


Bear with me

by Lets_change_fate (Zaazaaa)



Series: Claws and paws universe [2]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Lot of kissing, M/M, Possessive Murasakibara Atsushi, Secrets, Shapeshifting, They are all still basketball dorks, soulanimal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2018-12-05 10:53:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11576604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zaazaaa/pseuds/Lets_change_fate
Summary: Atsushi and Himuro are together now for a few months and Atsushi couldn't be happier. However, it looks like Himuro starts hiding things for him.It all starts with Himuro talking to someone named Taiga. Atsushi wants to find out what Himuro is hiding for him, but he also doesn't want to push Himuro away. Actually, all he wants is to go with his boyfriend to the new patisserie for his birthday. Why can't he just have that?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! 
> 
> Thank you for giving this story a chance. This is a squeal of the story 'Claws and paws'. I would advise you to read that story first, because it would explain a lot about what is happening in this one. 
> 
> Have fun reading, all comments are welcome and kudos appreciated! ｡^‿^｡
> 
> And of course the disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no basket or any characters of Kuroko no basket. Only the story is my own.

It was Friday and that meant date night. It varied from a movie night, a game night and sometimes even a going-out night. Anyway, for Atsushi it was the best day of the week. Ever since he and Himuro got together, they tried to do something together on the weekends. And slowly the habit of spending their Friday night together was born. 

Right now, their date night was a relaxing movie night at Atsushi's place. This morning Atsushi had complained that he hadn't seen Himuro in his cat form for too long.

Well, it was just two weeks back, but Atsushi really loved petting the soft fur of his boyfriends soulanimal. And luckily Himuro agreed to change for him tonight.

Of course, cuddling with the human Himuro was the best thing in the world. It didn't matter if Atsushi was in his soulanimal form, as a black bear, or if he was human. For him, Himuro will always be the best pillow on earth.

Being able to pet the cat was a very good second, though. And right now, Atsushi could enjoy it to the fullest. The cat was purring on his lap. The two grey eyes were still focused on the tv screen, but Atsushi caught them closing contently so now and then.

Atsushi had chosen the movie, but he wasn't really watching. Well, he was watching something, but that something was on his lap and not on tv. Sometimes the giant was still amazed that he could call this adorable guy his boyfriend. And it was already more than five months!

Living with Himuro in his life was the best thing that happened to him. The guy seemed to know when he was hungry. Which, admittedly, is as good as always. And the little guy was so kind and good to him. It makes Atsushi want to protect this furry bundle of happiness forever.

Recently they decided that it was stupid to both go home late, when there was enough room in their beds for the other to stay for the night. Besides that, Himuro has his own apartment, and Atsushi's parents are almost always overseas for business. So they won't disturb anyone with midnight change of plans.

They mostly stay in Atsushi's place, because the house is more spacious than Himuro's. And there was an enormous tv in the living room, which was perfect for movie nights like this one.

They settled comfortably on the couch before the screen, with chips and drinks. Well, the chips is only for Atsushi since Himuro couldn't eat that as a cat. The giant just wants to pick another chip from the bowl beside him when Himuro's phone starts to buzz. The cat lifts his head but doesn't make an attempt to get it.

"Ah should I look for you?" Atsushi says in a lazy voice.

He reaches forward with his long arm for the phone on the table and reads the display. "Taiga? Who is that?" He says while picking up the phone.

Immediately the cat perks up. Within a second, Atsushi feels the weight on his lap increasing and then Himuro sits there in his human form. He gets the phone, quickly puts it through and keeps it against his ear.

"Taiga! Hey." He says enthusiastically. Slowly he stands up from the giants lap and searches for his sweatpants to put on. "No, no, you don't disturb."

Atsushi puts the action movie he wasn't paying attention to on pause and frowns at Himuro. The mysterious phone caller did disturb the movie. With a soft sigh, he leans back against the couch.

"Ah you got my e-mail? Perfect, wait a second." He glances at Atsushi and when he sees the giant pouting he looks sheepish.

"Ah I'm sorry Atsushi, but this is really important. I will be right back, okay?" Himuro says apologizing. He bends forward and quickly puts a kiss on the giant's mouth. Then he puts his phone back on his ear and walks in only his pants to Atsushi's kitchen.

A little confused Atsushi looks after him. What is so important that Himuro had to take this call? And who is this 'Taiga' person. He already doesn't like him. He was enjoying himself with Himuro and that person rudely interrupted it.

Slowly he gets up from the sofa. The glass with water from Himuro is still full, but his soda is already empty. He decides to get some more to drink while he waits for Himuro.

In a few strides, he is in his kitchen, there Himuro stands with one hand on his hip and the other with the phone on his ear. Atsushi gives himself a second to enjoy the view of that beautiful back.

"Yes, could you do that?" Himuro says over the phone. Slowly Atsushi puts his hand on the guys back and slides it down. It causes a shudder from the other guy. Himuro looks at Atsushi and smiles for a second. "That would be amazing- ah I need to go now I'll text later okay? ... Yes, bye!" he says fast and disconnects the phone.

He then turns around and puts his arms around the giant's shoulders. "Couldn't you wait for a few more minutes?" He says with a smile.

"Mmm, I only wanted to get something to drink." Atsushi tells him, acting innocent. He knows he is always impatient when it comes to Himuro. Himuro knows it too and looks at him warily. But apparently he decides to let Atsushi go and just kisses him. The kiss is just quick and soft, but Atsushi lives on these things and he tries to make it last longer by grabbing Himuro closer. 

Himuro hums happily into the second kiss and Atsushi feels his boyfriends lips perk upwards in a smile. But then the raven haired boy leans back, while patting Atsushi affectionately on his chest. "Hm, only a drink, was it?" Himuro says with the playful smile still on his face. 

Atsushi also lets go after another little peck, then he walks with a similar smile tot the refrigerator. He gets the soda bottle and while pouring the contents of the bottle in his glass he asks lightly. "Who is Taiga?"

"Ah, you remember when I told you about that friend from America? The one who was like a brother to me?" Himuro says happily. Atsushi takes a sip of his glass and nods. "Well that's Taiga. He also lives here in Japan."

Atsushi walks back to the couch with his glass in his hand. "Ah, so a childhood friend." He wonders. Himuro agrees with him while taking the half full chips bag with him out of the kitchen. It makes Atsushi think of his own friends. They are not really childhood friends, but his old teammates from Teiko are the oldest friends he has. For a second his mind wanders to the time before Teiko, where he was shunned by other kids from his age, because he was 'scary'.

He quickly pushes those thoughts away. The past is in the past, he is happy that he now has his friends from Teiko. And Himuro, who is so much more than a friend for him.

Himuro opens the chips bag with a loud crack and directly put the contents of the bag in the now nearly empty bowl. It is a miracle that the guy doesn't spill any crumbs. When Himuro is done, he puts the empty bag on the table next to the bowl.

Atsushi replaces some pillows so the other can get comfortable on the couch. Himuro immediately shows he appriciates that by snuggling up to the giant.

Just when he sits, Himuro continues his talking. "You know, I used to be really jealous of Taiga. Whatever it was, it seemed like he was just naturally better in it. Well I am just a cat and he... well he is a very big cat." Himuro sighs and puts his head on the giant's shoulders.

Atsushi's arm circles around the others waist and keeps him close. He doesn't like it when Himuro gets sad. "Muro-chin" he starts, but Himuro already smiles again.

"Ah never mind. In the end, I got over my jealousy. To think that I almost ruined my oldest friendship over that. Well, I was younger then." Himuro says and Atsushi hums in response.

"So you are now friends again?"

"We are." Himuro says and then reaches forward for some chips. "Sorry for the interruption, shall we watch the movie further? I'm curious how it's going to end now." Atsushi looks down at the guy at his side. "You're not changing back then?" He tries not to pout, but he likes the cat.

"Actually I feel really comfortable right now, and being human does have its advantages." Himuro says with a mischievous glimmer in his eyes. Then he reaches with his hand to Atsushi's cheek and presses a kiss onto the giant's mouth.

A cheeky smile pulls on Himuro's lips when he leans back. "See?" Dark purple eyes watch him with full interest. This certainly is something the cat won't do.

"Okay." Atsushi answers with a low voice. He leans down to get another kiss and moans when Himuro gets even closer. Atsushi feels the other's hand reaching over him to the tv console. Atsushi breaks the kiss when he hears the movie starting again.

"Later, big bear. We have all the time." Himuro whispers in his ear. Hearing that makes Atsushi wanting to pin his boyfriend down and kiss him even more. But he knows that Himuro is right. He stays over tonight, so they have all the time.

He lets Himuro watch this movie, but after that... A deep hum rumbles in his chest.

~

That night something wakes Atsushi up. With sleepy eyes, he looks around and sees some light coming from Himuro's side of the bed.

"Muro-chin.." he murmurs. Himuro lays with his back to Atsushi and is tapping away on his phone, but when he hears Atsushi he quickly looks around.

"Ah did I wake you up? Sorry there was something I needed to write down, before I forgot." Atsushi sees Himuro tapping away some text. After he sends it he immediately shuts his phone and puts it away. Atsushi doesn't really think anything of it, he is too sleepy.

"Let's get back to sleep." Himuro whispers while turning to Atsushi. He lays his head against the larger chest and automatically Atsushi wraps his arms around the smaller body. With a deep and content sigh he hums an agreeing tone and then shuts his eyes again.

With Himuro in his arms, he quickly falls asleep.

~

When Atsushi wakes up the second time in that night, he can't pinpoint what it is that woke him up. Maybe a sound?

The room is already brighter by the sun that sneaks under the curtain in small strokes. So it is already morning then.

"Muro-chin?" Atsushi says with a still sleepy voice. He rubs with his fist in his eyes. He doesn't hear anything. Atsushi pets the space besides him, and feels that the blankets are cold. With sluggish moves, the giant gets out of bed.

Himuro usually isn't this early out of bed. Especially on a Saturday.

On bare feet, and only in his underwear and a sleep shirt, Atsushi walks to the living room. When he can't find Himuro there, he walks to the kitchen.

There, against the counter, stands Himuro with in his hands both his and Atsushi's phone. He is so focused on his typing, that he doesn't hear Atsushi walking in.

"Muro-chin? What are you doing?" Atsushi says softly, his brows screwed in confusion. With a little yelp Himuro almost drops the phones in his hands.

"Atsushi!" He says startled. His grey eyes look everywhere but at Atsushi. He fumbles his phone back in the pocket of his sweatpants and lays Atsushi's phone back on the counter. "It was nothing." Himuro says with a nervous smile.

A wrenching feeling spreads in Atsushi's stomach. Himuro is obviously keeping something from him. "Really?" He asks suspiciously.

Himuro turns away from him and starts rumbling in the cupboards. "Yes, really Atsushi." He says with a stern voice, but without looking at the giant.

"Okay." Atsushi responds when he sees that Himuro wouldn't say more. Maybe he can ask later? Himuro turns around when he hears Atsushi's soft answer. His eyes soften and a genuine smile appears on his face. With two cups in his hand he walks to the giant and puts a chaste kiss on Atsushi's cheek. "Good morning, big bear." Himuro says warmly. "Do you want coffee or tea?"

Atsushi looks down at those gentle eyes and the nervous feeling in his stomach fades. "Morning, tea with honey please." He answers and then leans down to put a kiss on Himuro's lips.

"Of course, one tea extra honey, coming up." Himuro says with a cheery voice.

"Mmm thanks, I will just take a quick shower." Atsushi tells the other. Himuro nods and starts boiling water. "Take your time."

~

The warm water helps Atsushi wake up and his thoughts are much clearer when he gets out of the shower. While standing before the mirror Atsushi looks at himself, a worried look paints his face. What was Himuro doing on his phone? He was not checking on him, was he?

Was there something he forgot about? Was today a special day? Atsushi thinks while drying himself with a large towel. He can't think of anything that he has done wrong or forgotten about. 

Without finding an explanation he returns to the kitchen. The smell that hits him there is mouth-watering. Apparently Himuro already started on breakfast. Atsushi pushes the questions far in the back of his mind then and follows his nose until he is standing right next to Himuro. The guy is standing before the stove, making American pancakes.

"Aah, Muro-chin, you are amazing." Atsushi pours himself over Himuro's shoulder and wraps his arms around the small body.

"Ew, your hair is still wet." Himuro says with a chuckle in his voice and he pushes Atsushi of him. With the spatula in his hand he gestures at Atsushi. "You know I hate it when you do that." He says accusingly, but his eyes are looking fondly and there is no hint of anger to be seen.

"But you just looked like you invited me to hug you." With his strong big arms he reaches for Himuro again.

"NO. Don't you dare! You will make me wet." Himuro bolts away from the strong arms and runs out of the kitchen. Before vanishing behind the wall, he gives Atsushi challenging look which says 'come and get me'.

Atsushi's body works automatically. Chase. He sprints after Himuro who lets out an indignant shriek when he sees Atsushi coming at him. With a big smile and a heart beating like crazy, Atsushi follows Himuro's frolic dodging around the room.

But then Atsushi's done with it and stops going easy on him. Atsushi manages to pin Himuro down against the wall in a chase halfway the corridor. "Got ya." He then whispers in Himuro's ear.

Atsushi hears a devilish chuckle, followed by a "Do you?". And then he is no longer holding Himuro against the wall, but a cat is darting between his legs to the kitchen.

"Ow you." What Himuro can, Atsushi can do better. He takes a second to get out of his clothes and then changes in his bear. In a second, the world is smaller and every smell increases tenfold.

With a growl he chases behind the cat, who was just looking from behind the corner. A high meow comes out of the cat and it hurries away. The agility of the cat is a match for the big bear, but Atsushi is amazingly fast when he wants to.

It doesn't take him long before he also has the cat cornered. The cat is purring and his tail is wagging. The grey eyes that look up to him are blazing with delight. Atsushi loves this game just as much as his cat.

Then the bear comes closer and bares his teeth. The cat knows it can't go anywhere and finally seems to come into terms with his loss, but then the teeth make place for a large, wet pink tongue. And Atsushi licks Himuro all over his face.

Himuro changes back sputtering and laughing. "Oh you did not just do that!" He says and pushes the bear playfully. "That's gross." Atsushi changes back, a smug smile on his face.

"I also could have eaten you Muro-chin." He says teasingly. Then he suddenly realizes what the weird smell was he was smelling when he was a bear. "Ah something is burning."

Himuro quickly scrambles up and climbs over Atsushi to run to the stove. "Oh no! The pancakes." He says, his expression fallen. Atsushi gets his clothes from the corridor and then joins his boyfriend next to the stove. There is already a plate with a pile of pancakes ready.

"Ah there is still enough, right?" He says carefully. Himuro huffs but smiles when he throws the burned pancake away. "With you? Not nearly enough." But he sets the pancakes on the table.

They sit down and Atsushi sees a now cold cup of tea standing next to his board. "And thanks for the tea, Muro-chin." Himuro looks up from where he is putting pancakes on his board and starts laughing. "Oh that must be cold now. You want more?" Atsushi grins and stands up to make it himself. "Yeah I'll get it. You want some too?"

Himuro agrees and after they both have a steaming cup of tea they start digging in their pancakes. They don't talk, too busy with eating. But the matching smiles stay on their faces even after all the pancakes are eaten.


	2. Chapter 2

When the two are done with their breakfast, they clean the table and put everything in the sink for later.

"Say Muro-chin." Atsushi starts slowly when they are both sprawling on the couch. "Mmm?" Himuro says, while quickly checking his phone and then putting it back in his pocket.

"You know, next week Saturday..." Atsushi wasn't sure if Himuro remembered, but that day, the 9th of October, was his birthday. The raven haired boy had asked about birthdays in one of their earliest conversations. But that was months ago. "I heard about a new patisserie in town, it is supposed to have really good cakes. Maybe we can go there together, for my-"

But Atsushi can't finish his question because Himuro suddenly stands up while yelling. "Oh look at the time, Atsushi I'm sorry. I had a told Taiga that I should meet up with him today about now!"

He quickly runs away to put his stuff in his bag. For a moment Atsushi just looks surprised at the sudden moves of his boyfriend, but then he stands op too. A little irritated he follows him to the bedroom. "Hah? When did you plan that? I thought you were here all day."

He tries not to sound complaining, but he totally is. He looked forward to spending the day with Himuro. They had to do homework and they needed to get groceries. But together was better than alone. And maybe Atsushi could even get Himuro to take a long enough break from their homework to do some more exciting things.

"Ah just yesterday on the phone." Himuro says while putting his shirt in his backpack. "I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you." He leaves the backpack on the floor and walks up to the giant. He reaches up to softly put a purple lock behind Atsushi's ear. "But I haven't seen him in so long, and he luckily happens to be in town!"

Himuro's words sound enthusiastic but his eyes don't shine as bright as usual. Atsushi can't pinpoint the emotion laying in those grey orbs. "But Muro-chin, I was going to make you curry tonight. And how am I going to do my homework without you. I'll be bored."

Okey now he was definitely pouting. It works though, Himuro is looking guilty. "Sorry, I will make it up to you!"

He then looks from Atsushi's eyes to Atsushi's lips in a way that the giant can't resist. Their lips meet halfway. Himuro is standing on his toes but then Atsushi puts his hand on the other's shoulders and pushes him down on his feet again. When Himuro is stable on his feet, Atsushi decides that he should claim all of his boyfriend's attention now to compensate for the miss the rest of the day.

The kiss is messy and needy and Atsushi doesn't know if they are kissing for a few seconds or for minutes, but it is way too early when Himuro pulls back.

The guy puts one last soft kiss on Atsushi's now red-kissed lips. "I'll text you soon." Himuro breaths.

And then he is gone. A last 'love you' can be heard from the hallway, but then the door shuts.

Atsushi keeps sulking for the rest of the day. He now definitely dislikes Taiga. This is the second time in 24 hours that that guy took Himuro from him.

And Atsushi knows that it is ridiculous to think of it like he stole his Muro-chin. He doesn't possess Himuro like an object, he is not stupid. But still the strong animalistic voice inside him growls. 'Mine. Claim. Protect. Only mine.'

Then Atsushi realizes that Himuro hadn't answered his question about his birthday. He should ask him again, maybe he can call him?

But no that's not really necessary, right? He can always ask Himuro about his birthday the next time he sees him.

~

The next time becomes the next Monday, when they have to go to school again.

Himuro hadn't come back to Atsushi's home the rest of the weekend. It was to be expected, the guy was also busy. But still Atsushi felt disappointed. He had counted on the raven haired guy with dinner. Now he had leftovers, which honestly wouldn't survive a day in his fridge. But eating it together with Himuro would have been much better than eating it alone.

Himuro already sits on his seat when Atsushi walks into the classroom. The guy gives Atsushi a big smile when he sees him. "Good morning." Himuro says happy. Atsushi doesn't understand how Himuro is this happy this early, but he smiles back and also grunts a good morning.

"Did you have a nice weekend?" Himuro asks as if he hadn't texted him yesterday. "Mm, it was okay." Atsushi responds. You weren't there, so less okay than expected, he thinks. But he only asks. "How was it with Taiga?"

Himuro's face lightens up even more and he starts talking excitedly. "It was really fun. We played basketball like as before. And he is even better now!"

Atsushi feels a pang of jealousy. He certainly wasn't as good in basketball as he was, right? "I would've crushed him." He murmurs grim.

Himuro looks at the giant and then starts to chuckle. "I would really like to see you play against him. I don't know who would win, especially since Taiga has this new friend. With that guy, Taiga is almost unstoppable."

Atsushi scowls at his boyfriend. Himuro thinks that he would lose? Who is this Taiga, who makes Himuro doubts his ability to win in something as simple as basketball?

In the meantime, Himuro is talking animatedly about their game again, but Atsushi can't focus on the story anymore. Just as Himuro is looking at him as if he expects an answer to a question Atsushi hadn't heard, the teacher starts the lesson. Himuro then waves the unheard question away and grins.

~

The day goes by slower than usual and Atsushi's mood doesn't brighten by the hours. If anything, it only darkens by Himuro's enthusiastic talking about Taiga.

Apparently, the American is also very good at cooking. They had eaten dinner together with that other friend of Taiga, from whom Himuro couldn't remember the name. The giant can't help to start seeing the guy as a threat. Because, wasn't Himuro supposed to be this happy when he cooked for him?

Wasn't Himuro supposed to hang around with him, and wasn't it his job to make that amazing smile appear on his little cat's face?

Atsushi is brooding and after the lunch break he decides that he will let Himuro remember why he choose for him. He is going to make Himuro his favourite food today. Yes, that's a perfect plan.

"Muro-chin?" Atsushi starts asking his boyfriend. They just got their books from their lockers and were now on their way to the exit of the school.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" He continues while putting his hand on Himuro's back.

Himuro leans a little into Atsushi's touch and beams up to him. For a second Atsushi thinks that the guy would say yes. But then Himuro's happy expression falls and a thoughtful look appears.

"Ah, I need to run some errands today." He says with apologetic smile. "And the shops will close soon, so I need to hurry."

There goes the plan. Atsushi takes his hand back and slumps his shoulders in disappointment. Himuro sees this and continues. "We have an important test Wednesday, so I really need to study tomorrow evening, And Wednesday evening wouldn't fit with our basketball practice, but we can do it maybe... Friday?" Himuro says hopeful.

That is 4 days from now. Atsushi shakes his head. "No, I can't friday. My parents are supposed to come home on Friday." He says with a monotonous voice.

Himuro's eyes grow wide. "What? Really? That changes the plans." He murmurs the last part mostly to himself, then he quickly adds. "I mean the plans for the dinner. For me coming over. To you. For dinner." Himuro puts his hand in his hair and starts looking away.

Atsushi isn't sure if he heard Himuro just mutter a curse under his breath. "Mm, yes. They stay until Sunday, they especially are coming over to give me my presents." Atsushi says proud. He might not see his parents a lot, but they are always sure to spoil him with a lot of presents on his birthday.

Himuro is staring at a place in the sky, obviously deep in thought. Atsushi isn't sure if he has heard him, because the guy doesn't give him a reply.

"Muro-chin?" Himuro is aware of his surroundings again after hearing his name again. "Did you hear me, or not?" Atsushi asks slowly. But Himuro looks at him with a glazed gaze.

"Ah yes, your parents are coming over. I'm happy for you! I shouldn't invade your happy reunion on the first day. No problem, we can eat together another time." His expression is sincere, but his voice is soft. Himuro clutches his bag strip tighter and looks a little nervous at Atsushi. As if he is worrying about something.

Atsushi isn't sure if he knows what he is worrying about, but he doesn't want his Muro-chin to feel nervous. He quickly glances around and sees that they already are at the crossway where they need to split if they go to their respective homes. But Himuro shouldn't go home like this.

The street they are standing in is almost empty and that other couple walking a few yards before them would probably don't mind them. So Atsushi decides to listen his instinct.

The giant steps closer and slowly, so Himuro understands his purpose, enfolds his arms around Himuro. A deep sigh is heard from the guy in his arms and Atsushi feels Himuro hugging him back just as tight.

"Muro-chin, you know you don't have to worry about my parents. I already told my mom about you. She totally adores you and told me that she would talk to my father. Really, my mother can convince everyone of everything. Especially my father. It will be perfectly fine." Atsushi says slowly, his voice softer and lower.

Himuro nuzzles closer to Atsushi and then speaks just as softly. "I know big bear, I know." He hides his head in Atsushi's big chest and speaks to it with a muffled voice. "Everything will be alright."

Atsushi hums in agreement. Then a thought occurs to him. "Why don't we eat together Thursday?" He asks. Did Himuro purposely skip that day?

Because Himuro is hiding his face, Atsushi totally misses the doubting face he makes. There is a silence for a while, but then Himuro leans back more and looks up at Atsushi.

"Thursday is okay, but it can't be at my place..." Himuro bites his bottom lip for a second, but when he sees Atsushi looking at him worried, he quickly replaces it with a smile.

"It is okay at my place, Muro-chin." Atsushi says slowly. 

"Okey, Thursday. Dinner at your place." Himuro confirms and smiles up to the giant. He then untangles himself from their embrace while grabbing Atsushi's large hands into his. "But I really have to go now, or else the stores will close." He leans up and gives Atsushi a last chase kiss on his lips. "I love you." He whispers with cheeks turning red.

"Love you too, Muro-chin." Atsushi answers. The guy before him smiles and after a last squeeze with his hand, he turns around and walks away.

Atsushi waves after him but Himuro is already busy with his phone. Right that moment Atsushi thinks about asking Himuro if he wants to go to that new patisserie on his birthday. But just as he wants to shout out after Himuro, the other disappears around the block while holding his phone against his ear to call someone.


	3. Chapter 3

The next days come and go in a blur of uneventful events.

Atsushi really looks forward to Thursday evening. He made a list of groceries he needs to make Himuro's favourite dish the same day they planned their dinner.

However, school was terrible. The lessons were boring, the lunch was only so-so but the worst thing was that Himuro was constantly typing away on his phone.

Not that Atsushi thought that he couldn't do that. Himuro can text whenever he wants. It might be better to not do it in class, but Atsushi doesn't think that it is bad. As long as the teachers don't see it.

However, what made Atsushi so annoyed was the short answers Himuro gave him while he kept his attention on his phone.

The raven haired boy couldn't stop texting. Atsushi asked him if something was the matter and with who he was texting, but Himuro had only responded half-heartedly. And when Atsushi leaned over the guy's shoulder when Himuro was busy at his locker, the guy quickly locked his phone. Like he really wanted to hide who he was talking to.

Atsushi had an idea who it was, though. Himuro hadn't been this active on his phone before he and that Taiga met with each other last weekend. So it was, for Atsushi, only logical that he was the one who was bothering Himuro.

It annoyed Atsushi enormously. Could that guy please stop pestering his boyfriend already? He takes away all Himuro's attention. And maybe that was the worst.

Why couldn't Himuro give him more attention?

~

That Thursday, the whole situation made Atsushi so frustrated and grumpy, that even the prospect of having dinner with Himuro couldn't cheer him up anymore.

The giant grumbled when the last bell rang and they got up from their seats. For a second Atsushi remembered that he wanted to invite Himuro to go with him to that new patisserie for his birthday. Again. This week he didn't really get the chance to ask the other.

But right now he didn't really feel like asking, mostly because Himuro was still tapping away on his phone.

With a sigh he gets his stuff. He can always ask him tonight, at dinner. At least then his boyfriend would have attention only for him, right?

After they got their books and jackets out of their lockers, they walk out of the school. That is the moment when Himuro decides to speak to Atsushi fully again.

"Hey Atsushi, can we go to that shop next to the supermarket first, before we go to your place?" Himuro asks lightly. He looks at Atsushi with a calm expression, but Atsushi recognizes a hint of enthusiasm in the dark grey eyes.

"Sure." the giant says immediately. He doesn't mind what they do. As long as it is together. And as long Himuro is not constantly on his phone, that is.

He is rewarded with a bright smile of his boyfriend. An excited squeal escapes Himuro's throat and the guy is almost dancing on his feet.

Atsushi grins at that. If it is this simple to make Himuro excited, he has it easy. "Is there anything in particular you are looking for?" Atsushi says while enjoying the outburst of his boyfriend.

"Yes! But I don't know the name, I will see it when we are there." Himuro says and out of nowhere the guy slides his hand in Atsushi's.

The giant blinks down at their intertwined fingers, Himuro isn't usually this affectionately in the school. With a scowl he looks at the grey eyes that are now looking at him with mischief.

"Let's go, big bear!" The guy says happily and starts pulling Atsushi faster at his hand.

Atsushi can't hide the smug expression that plasters on his face the second he sees people looking at them walking past. Hand in hand.

Atsushi might be easily annoyed, but Himuro always knows the right thing to do, to make him smile again.

~

They are already walking in the store for 10 minutes, and Himuro still hadn't found what he is looking for. Just as Atsushi wants to ask again what it is that the other is searching for, he hears his phone ringing.

Curious, Atsushi takes his phone out of his pocket. He doesn't expect any call, but maybe it is his dad?

But when Atsushi looks at his screen, he sees his mother's caller ID on the screen. That's unusual. Mom usually doesn't call but mostly texts unless it is really necessary.

Atsushi quickly tabs Himuro at his shoulder and says. "I will be outside, I've got a call from my mom." Himuro nods and smiles at him. "I will see you outside in a minute, I think I've found what I was looking for!" Himuro answers.

Atsushi doesn't look what it was that Himuro wants to buy and immediately answers the phone before the call disconnects. While walking out of the store he says in the phone.

"Hello, Mom?"

"Atsushi! With me!" Atsushi hears a high feminine voice over the speakers the second he steps outside. He sets a few more steps away from the entrance and then stands still with the phone against his ear. What he hears next makes his muscles tense.

"Dear, we are so sorry. But something came up with the business. And it is a disaster. We need to stay longer here in Russia."

Ah, so they were in Russia right now. Atsushi grips his phone tighter and takes a deep breath to hear his mother continue.

"Your father is doing everything he can to make it right at this moment, and I need to stay with him to help. I am so sorry that we couldn't contact you earlier." Atsushi could hear a trembling in his mother voice he knows that was only there under massive stress.

An ice cold feeling spreads through his long body, despite the warm clothes he is wearing. After blinking fast for a second, Atsushi hums to let his mother know that he is still there. He doesn't know any other thing to say though. His mother hears it and after a sigh from the other side Atsushi hears her voice softer this time.

"Atsushi, sweetheart, daddy also says he's sorry, and he already sent your presents to our address. You will get them Saturday if the delivery goes right."

Are they only sending him his presents? "When will you come back then?" He asks with a brittle voice. Are they cancelling on his birthday? They can't do that right?

"We will work as hard as we can. But I can't say for sure. Maybe we won't even make it back for this Sunday." The words are soft, but they echo long in Atsushi's ears.

"But my birthday is Saturday." Atsushi says, so quiet that it borders on a whisper.

"We know sweetie. And trust me, I'm going to work as hard as I can so we will be there on time. I just..." There is another sigh and Atsushi already understands what his mother tries to say. He grips his hand that isn't holding his phone in a tight fist. His lower lip trembles a little when he says the next words.

"You don't know for sure if you are going to make it." Atsushi bites hard on his lip to stop the trembling.

"Yes." His mother says, the voice sounds sad even over the phone. "Oh, sweetheart, we are terribly sorry."

Atsushi stays silent in the moments that follow. He can say that it is okay, but it isn't. He also doesn't want to say that they should work hard just for him, but on the other side... It is his birthday.

In the end Atsushi says nothing until he hears some shouting in the background from the other side of the phone. His mother responds something in a language he doesn't understand and then talks in her phone again. "They need me to get some things done. I will update you later! Love you, sweetie, bye!" And the phone disconnects.

After Atsushi hears the ending tone, he lowers his phone. He keeps staring at the phone in his hand. He already knows, they are not going to make it to his birthday.

His parents are not coming.

They are away all the time, always busy. So why did he thought that it would be any different on his birthday?

Still the disappointment wells up and Atsushi puts his phone away with a sour look.

That is precisely the moment Himuro steps out of the store with a bag in his hand. He immediately senses that something is off. "Atsushi? What's up?" He says softly while laying his hand on the giant's arm.

Atsushi tries to smile at his boyfriend, but the smile doesn't reach his eyes. He is not going to be weak right now, in the middle of the crowd.

Already people are looking at them and Atsushi can't bear it. He takes Himuro's hand in his and leads him away.

"So annoying." He murmurs while walking.

"Atsushi, wait up, you're going too fast. And what are you talking about?" Himuro is running to keep up with the fast, long strides of the giant.

They keep walking a few streets until Atsushi abruptly stops. They are somewhere in a street he doesn't recognize. He just blindly walked away.

Himuro sees the dark look of the giant. He quickly looks around for a perfect place, and his eye falls on a little playground with swings.

Softly he tugs at the giant's hand and leads him towards it. He settles on the swing and Atsushi goes to sit on the swing next to him. The sight is funny, because Atsushi looks even larger with his long legs and arms in a swing meant for children.

Himuro then rumbles in the shopping bag, Atsushi sees him getting a bag with candy. "I wanted to wait with this, but I think this is more needed now."

He opens the bag and offers Atsushi the gummies first.

Atsushi reaches for the bag, but his hand keeps hovering in the air. He hesitates about taking the candy, which results in Himuro giving him a worried look. But then the giant can't resist the sweets anymore and takes a few.

With still one gummy in his mouth he then says. "They are not coming."

Himuro needed a moment to process who Atsushi was talking about. The exact moment Himuro realizes Atsushi is talking about his parents can be read from his face. His mouth opens slack.

"What? They don't come anymore?" He exclaims indignant. "Was that the phone call you got just now?"

Atsushi nods and leans his head against the iron strings of the swing. "They are busy with the business. Maybe they make it for Sunday, but then they are already a day too late. Maybe they don't come at all, if it is too much." Atsushi sighs.

Himuro looks dumbfounded. A few times he looks like he wants to say something.

Then he stands up and goes to stand behind him. For once, Atsushi sits low enough for Himuro to lean over him. He drapes his arms over the giant's shoulders and leans with his torso to the giants back.

"It will be alright, big bear. We will celebrate your birthday anyway." He whispers in his ear. Atsushi perks up at that, he leans back and takes Himuro's hands that hang before him in his own.

"You didn't forget?" He says relieved. The thought warms him and starts chasing away the ice-cold feeling of hurt.

He arches his neck so he can look at Himuro directly. "Would you come with me to that new patisserie Saturday?" Atsushi invites Himuro, finally asking the question he wanted to ask for a few days now.

But Atsushi doesn't see the usually cheerful expression on Himuro's face. Himuro is avoiding his gaze and his face even looks a little grim.

"Ah, um." Himuro hesitates. There is a tremor in his voice and his body is tens against Atsushi's back.

Atsushi feels where this is going. But he doesn't understand.

He untangles his hands and gets of the swing. Himuro also lets go of him so he can stand with ease.

When Himuro finally looks Atsushi in the eyes, Atsushi asks slowly. "Or Muro-chin, do you already have other plans...?"

Himuro looks at him with a pained expression. He doesn't say anything but he also doesn't deny it.

Atsushi scowls at his boyfriend. "You do." He concludes. Himuro cringes when he hears the accusing voice.

"No look, Atsushi-" Himuro starts but Atsushi interrupts him.

"Is it with Taiga?" He asks. His gaze is thunderous. But the giant fears the response.

After all, Himuro can't lie to him. Himuro's eyes already betray that Atsushi is right. "It's not like that." Himuro says desperately.

But Atsushi had enough of it. It is just too much. His parents cancelling him, Himuro constantly texting others in his presence, giving him almost no attention, and now Himuro is even going to meet up with another guy on HIS birthday.

His emotions are flowing over, and Atsushi has to use all his willpower to stop his claws from growing. He briskly turns around and stomps away. Away from Himuro. He needs to get some space in between them.

"Atsushi, wait!" Himuro runs after him and grabs Atsushi's sleeve.

The giant stops and closes his eyes, through gritted teeth he says. "Let me go, Muro-chin."

He feels his grip on his control slipping. But Himuro is still clinging on him and it looks like he doesn't want to let go. He will hurt him if the guy stays this close.

"Please, let me explain." Himuro pleads the giant. Atsushi isn't even sure what the guy needs to explain. What more is there to say about this?

His emotions are now shifting into anger, and the last thing what Atsushi wants is injuring Himuro in his rage. So he will drive him away.

He had sworn to never make his boyfriend feel scared of him. But now he is going to break that promise.

Himuro starts to speak again but Atsushi silences him with a deep rumbling growl. Even when Himuro had heard it before, he had never heard the growl aimed at him. And this is not a playing rumbling. This is undoubtedly a threatening growl.

Atsushi sees the moment Himuro's pleading demeanour shifts in one of fear.

That is the moment he chooses to say. "Leave me alone." Atsushi's voice is low and hard, and Himuro directly releases his sleeve and takes a step back.

The expression of hurt is as clear as the fear that radiates of Himuro's trembling body. A wave of guilt adds to Atsushi already messy fit of emotions.

Before he can say more, Atsushi turns around and walks away again.

This time, Himuro doesn't follow him.


	4. Chapter 4

The anger kept raging in Atsushi's body until he got home. There he released it in throwing brown pillows from the couch against the opposite wall. They fall on the floor like autumn leaves from a tree. In Atsushi's strong hands, those pillows are just as fragile as the old leaves, easily teared apart.

The giant then stomps around and lashes out to the chairs, knocking them to the ground. The noise of them slamming against the floor echoes through the house.

But it doesn't satisfy the rage that has been fuelled by the past days, the rage that just had been enflamed by the betrayal from both his parents and his boyfriend.

The only thing that now helps, is letting his animal out. The bear that was kept in check all the way home finally gets to roam around. How he found his own house, he can't even remember. But all that matter is that he can finally release his control.

His clothes are shredded to pieces, and the Black Bear roars. The emotions are fuller and more intense in the bear, but also less complex. Just pure rage pumps through his veins. Atsushi growls and stomps around until he finds the pillows again and dives into it.

The bear totally shreds it into pieces, rips it apart with his claws. He tears the fluffy insides into fuss with his sharp teeth.

And it helps. It releases the boiling anger. Atsushi continues until he is exhausted and the pillows are no more than dust on the ground.

But then, when the anger subsides, the sadness emerges. A pained whine escapes his throat and with heavy tumps Atsushi walks up to his bed, where he slumps down heavily.

There he keeps laying, huddled in himself, with his paws over his snout. He wished that bears, like some other animals, couldn't cry tears. Then he could hide in this form forever without shredding a single drop.

But he can cry, and so he does. His fur around his eyes are getting slowly wetter and wetter. Atsushi wheezes out a deep breath, which is shuddering his whole body.

He feels alone. Alone and unloved. But he had it coming, didn't he?

It was already a wonder that Himuro, wonderful amazing Himuro, could love someone as difficult and lazy as him. He didn't make it easy for his little cat. But now he also lashed out to him with those harsh words. He pushed the guy further away from him, just when he finally wanted to talk.

Atsushi keeps seeing Himuro's scared expression when he closes his eyes. Keeps experiencing the fear he could smell from his own boyfriend. Fear of him.

Maybe he is disappointed in Himuro, but he is even more disappointed in himself. He acted like thát thing that Himuro had so strongly believed him not to be.

Like a monster.

~

Atsushi must have fallen asleep eventually, because he feels the shock of waking up far after his alarm.

The clock already displays the digits over 10 o'clock.

Atsushi closes his eyes again. Maybe he should just skip today altogether. He was already late now. It was Friday and he didn't have any important tests today anyway.

The bear grunts, turns around and continues his slumber.

The next time Atsushi opens his eyes, he sees the damage he'd done in his rampage. The remnants of the pillows are in feathers and shreds, in a trail that even leads into his bed. His fur is full of dust, but Atsushi doesn't care.

He stays in bed until his rumbling stomach gets unbearable. He changes, puts on some clothes, brushes his teeth, and heads to the kitchen.

On his way, the giant finds his phone between his shredded clothes on the living room floor. Slowly Atsushi reaches for it. The screen lights up and immediately shows him a lot of missed calls and text. But the giant decides to look at them later and puts the phone on the charger in his room. Food first.

He makes himself a large breakfast slash lunch and eats like he hadn't eaten for a day (well, he did skipped dinner yesterday). While munching on the food, which makes his mood only slightly better, he looks around the room. He really made a mess.

Atsushi then cleans the dishes and he starts on the impossible job of cleaning all the damage he'd done.

It takes him the whole day to make everything spotless and to buy new pillows to replace the ones he destroyed. At least Atsushi learned to channel his overflowing power to unimportant objects, like pillows.

He once destroyed a whole couch when he was still learning to contain his control. He remembered how mad his father was, but also how both of his parents didn't hold it against him. They made him go to lessons to channel his power, especially when he was mad or in distress.

Atsushi puts the last pillow on its place and takes a deep breath. Both his mother and father did a good job in parenting, and he can live on his own without problems. But he still misses them sometimes. And now they even cancelled his birthday...

Atsushi slumps down on the couch with his left arm over his face. He allows himself that moment of rest and tries to not think about the past day. He looks at the clock on the wall. Already time for dinner? The day passes fast when you leave your bed in the early afternoon.

Atsushi wonders what to make for dinner. He can just make a simple miso soup for himself, but that probably wouldn't be enough. Maybe he can add some rice and beef tonight. Atsushi gets up and walks to the kitchen, but just as he walks past his room, he hears his phone buzzing. Directly he stops walking. Maybe it is Muro-chin!

Then the giant realizes, whatever Himuro wants to say, it can't be good. Gloomy he looks to the phone in his room. The screen is still glowing from the popup from the last message. He sets one step into his room, but then stops. After all, he already ignored his phone all day, a few more minutes don't matter now anymore.

Atsushi nods to himself and retreats to the kitchen. This way he can postpone the reality for a little longer.

The giant starts making himself dinner with a foggy mind. He takes his time and stretches the process a little more than necessary. After that he eats everything until the last crumb and even cleans the kitchen some more. But then there is no excuse that can hold him back anymore. Thus, Atsushi gives in to the temptation of looking what the pestering buzzes want to tell him.

Atsushi collects his phone from the charger and takes it with him to the couch. He sits down against the new, still little stiff, pillows and starts going through his messages. There are at least 6 missed calls, all from Himuro, and a lot of texts, mostly form the same caller ID.

But the texts that Atsushi opens the first is the one from his mother. Little hope bubbles up, bubbles that are directly popped when he reads the text. It is just another apology. And yes, they are working hard, but no, they are sure now that they can't make it Saturday.

Atsushi locks his phone without replying and places it as far away from him on the little table as possible. He leans forward with his hands in his hair, and his elbows on his knees. He doesn't have the energy to look at the other messages from Himuro.

He can already imagine what it says. 'How could you growl like that to me? Do you really despise having me around?' Or maybe it would be more like. 'I was wrong, you are a monster.' Or the one he dreads the most. So much that only thinking about it makes him nauseous. 'I want to break up.'

He can't look at them. And as long as he hasn't read them, then it might still be okay.

That's what Atsushi tells himself, but he still feels pathetic. He flicks the tv on and starts zapping through channels, praying that he finds something that would distract him.

He settles on an old movie about aliens and stays watching even when his eyes get heavy. In breaks he keeps checking the clock. It is still more than two hours until 12 o'clock. Should he wait up?

It is almost his birthday, maybe he should.

But the giant slowly starts dozing off in the couch. He makes the mistake to spread a warm blanket over himself while he watches the next movie that starts on the tv. That, in combination with the warm meal in his stomach, makes Atsushi fall in a deep, dreamless sleep, long before the clock could reach 12 hours.

~

The next moment Atsushi is woken by the doorbell. He immediately feels the strains in his muscles from sleeping in a weird position. The giant grumbles something when the doorbell rings again. Irritated to be disturbed in his sleep, he drags himself to the door.

Then his mind clears up. Today is his birthday. Maybe that is why there is someone on his doorstep?

His heart is starts beating faster. Can it be Himuro? But no. He clearly told his boyfriend to stay away from him...

Maybe the delivery guy with his present from his parents? That would at least be more likely, Atsushi thinks.

But when the giant opens his door, he sees someone who makes him think that he is still dreaming a weird dream.

A familiar blonde, in a sporty blue jacket and black skinny jeans, stands waiting in the front of the door. Two golden eyes look up happily when Atsushi finally opens the door.

"Kise-chin?" Atsushi asks with a yawn.

Kise Ryouta is wearing his best-seller smile. "Murasakibaracchi, good morning." He says and then adds like it was an afterthought. "And happy birthday."

"Thanks." Atsushi says softly, still a little baffled by the sudden show up of his old teammate.

"But... Kise-chin, what are you doing here?" He asks with earnest curiously. Didn't Kise live in the Kanto region near Tokyo? Why is he all the way here in Akita?

"Well, lets say that I was in the neighbourhood. But do I really need a reason to wish you a happy birthday?" Kise chuckles, but his expression turns concerned when he sees how Atsushi looks like.

He must have looked worse than he thought, because the next moment the blonde asks carefully. "Are you all right?"

Atsushi only squints his eyes. But he averts the question by standing aside and welcoming the blonde inside. Kise thanks him, takes of his shoes and steps further into the house.

"You'd normally call." Atsushi says, voice dragging. "So, who sent you? Was it Aka-chin?" He asks slowly when they both enter the kitchen. His eyes are following the blond carefully.

He might act suspicious, but he hasn't spoken to Kise-chin for weeks. It is just too much of a coincidence.

"Can't you believe that I just came here for fun?" Kise chides while taking a seat at the kitchen table. He gives Atsushi a little smile, but also sees that the giant knows he is here with a reason.

Atsushi gives the blonde a look that says, 'would you really?'. Kise grimaces, "No, actually Himurocchi did."

Atsushi, who was reaching for a few glasses, freezes and turns to Kise briskly. "Muro-chin? He talked to you?" He asks astonished.

Kise puts one hand on the table and the other behind his head, scratching his neck. "Yeah, he was worried you know, you weren't answering his calls and he didn't know if you'd let him in if he came by your house."

Atsushi looks surprised at his friend. How much does Kise know about what happened? And since when did Himuro talk to him? How didn't he know about this? Questions keep coming and Atsushi pinches his fingers on the bridge of his nose.

When lowers his hand and opens his eyes again, he sees two golden eyes looking at him with concern.

"I think I ruined it with Muro-chin." He says softly while looking dejected at his hands.

"What? No, Murasakibaracchi-" Kise tries, but Atsushi interrupts him with a sigh while slumping down at the chair across him. He lays his head on his arms on the table.

"You didn't see the way he looked at me, Kise-chin. I scared him. Really much. I got angry at him and he looked so afraid." Atsushi says against his arms.

Kise looks at the giant sadly. He bites his upper lip while contemplating what to say.

"And I feel like he is keeping things from me. I didn't even know that you two spoke to each other." Atsushi continues while gesturing to Kise. "What if Himuro is just done with me after this?" He whispers.

"You know..." The blonde starts, "I get into arguments with Aominecchi a lot, but that doesn't mean that I don't love him. And Aominecchi can act like a jerk sometimes, but he always makes it right."

Atsushi listens to Kise attentively, he heaves a deep breath. "So...?" He asks, not really knowing where Kise is going with this.

"So," Kise repeats. "One quarrel doesn't have to mean the end of your relationship. If you feel like you wronged Himuro, for example by scaring him like that, then go talk to him. Apologize."

Atsushi sits somewhat straighter. "You'd think he would listen to me?" He asks.

Kise smiles encouraging. "Well, he did call you a lot, didn't he? He definitely wants to talk."

For a moment Atsushi smiles, but then his expression changes into a gloomy one again. "But what should I say? And what if he keeps holding things back from me? And I can't forbid him to constantly chat with Taiga."

"Taiga?" Kise asks then. "You mean Kagamicchi?"

Atsushi's face darkens. "So, you know him too." He grumbles.

Kise doesn't really understand the sudden change of subject. "What has Kagamicchi to do with this?" He asks surprised.

Atsushi gives him an annoyed look. "Muro-chin is giving him all his attention. He keeps chatting with him the whole day, and now he even made plans with him on my birthday." The giant complains with a gruff voice.

Kise looks at him with a weird expression on his face. "Huh, But Kagamicchi is-"

Suddenly he stops mid-sentence. His eyes go wide and he makes an 'Oh' sound.

Atsushi is watching him closely. "What is it?" He asks, suddenly filled with tension.

"Nothing! It is nothing!" Kise exclaims. But Atsushi doesn't believe him.

"Kise-chin.." He growls. But then the chirping from Kise's phone disturbs their conversation. The blonde pulls it out of his jacket while smiling apologetically and checks the text he got. "Oh right!" He says.

He looks at Atsushi and grabs his hand excitedly. "How about we get out of the house? Change of scenery? I still need some new clothes and I am sure you could use some new shirts too." He starts babbling. Meanwhile he starts dragging an overwhelmed Atsushi out of the kitchen to his room.

"Kise-chin you know I don't like shopping." Atsushi tries to say when he already stands before his closet. He only enjoys shopping when he is together with Himuro. But the blonde doesn't have to know that.

"No but you need to get your mind cleared. I am sure that you know what to say to Himurocchi when we get back. It is just like a therapy but then with clothes! Now get dressed then we can go." He says cheerfully and walks out of Atsushi's room.

Atsushi is still not totally convinced, but Kise is right, he does need some new shirts. Actually, clothes in general, especially after he ripped another pair apart Thursday.

He puts on a set of clothes, a wide pale shirt and some baggy jeans. It might not be the best thing he has, but they fit. He steps back out of his room where Kise is waiting for him. The moment he sees the giant he puts his phone in his jacket again. "Yeah, you really need new clothes." He says with a judging gaze.

Atsushi isn't bothered by the words and just shrugs. "But I am expecting a package today." He says while trying to get out of it again.

"Ah don't worry, I am sure that it would be delivered by the neighbours if you are not at home." Kise says directly and walks to the door.

Atsushi follows him. The distraction works, because he doesn't think about what Kise knew about Taiga again.

"And you know, we can eat lunch together in between the shopping, my treat!" Kise says while he puts on his shoes.

"Are you trying to bribe me with food, Kise-chin?" Atsushi asks while watching the blonde.

Kise looks up from under his hair that falls for his eyes. "Um, yes? Does it work?" He grins.

Atsushi puts on his shoes and grabs his wallet and the keys from the kitchen table. His phone stays behind on the table next to the couch, but Atsushi doesn't see it in his rush. Kise watches him closely with a knowing smile on his face. When Atsushi is done he opens the front door. He looks back a moment at the blonde, a small smile playing on his mouth.

"Maybe it works, a little." He answers. And walks outside. Kise starts skipping after him, happy that his job is complete.

What they both didn't see, was a white shadow, shaped like a Stoat, slipping inside the house, just before the door fell shut.


	5. Chapter 5

Kise had chosen a shopping center a half hour away from Atsushi's home. They went there by train. Atsushi understood why Kise had chosen this place, when he saw how large the shopping center was.

The blonde's eyes lighten up by seeing all the shops. "We are definitely going to find something in here!" He chants happily.

Before they started their journey through the stores, Atsushi insisted that they'd eat something. He didn't have breakfast jet and his stomach was growling since they boarded the train.

They found a good looking bakery under five minutes and sat down at a table with a window view. "Choose whatever you like, see it as my birthday present." Kise says while he smiles fondly at the giant.

Atsushi chooses the sweetest cake the shop has. After all he should indulge himself today, his birthday is only one day in the year. Kise takes something smaller and pays as promised. While eating Kise chattered non-stop about Aomine, basketball and which kind of things he wanted to buy.

Atsushi just hummed at the appropriate moments and ate his cake. He had forgotten how loud and energetic Kise could be. But it distracted him from his own thoughts, so he gladly listened.

After they were both full, they started their quest to find all the things Kise was looking for. The blonde took Atsushi in every shop. Holding shirts and jeans for him out. But most of them weren't in his size.

Kise was disappointed when an especially nice sweater wasn't in Atsushi's size, and he even asked if there were other places that could possibly get the shirt. But the shop owner told him that this was the largest size they sold.

"I'm sorry Murasakibaracchi, maybe we should look somewhere else." Kise told him dejected. But Atsushi wasn't bothered by it. He was used to this after all.

They were hours further when they finally found something that really fitted Atsushi well. In the meantime, Kise had collected more than 5 bags from different shops. Atsushi couldn't remember all the things the blond had bought. He had tried so many things and looked at so much.

Slowly Atsushi was getting tired of walking through all the stores, but finding something that fitted him made him a little less annoyed.

"These jeans fit you so perfect. It is tight and wide in exactly the right places!" Kise muses cheerfully. The blonde was even happier about finding something that fitted Atsushi than Atsushi himself. After they bought it, he almost skipped out the store, which made Atsushi laugh.

"Are we done now?" The giant asks with a lazy voice after they walk between the shops again.

Kise takes a look at his watch, then he looks around. "Almost! I just want to check that store. Last one okay?" The blonde chants. Didn't they already go in that one? Well, if this is the last one, then Atsushi didn't mind.

The giant rumbles through his pocket, searching for his phone, but then remembers again that he had left it at home. Not a good day to forget your phone.

Would he have a lot of birthday wishes when he gets home? The idea makes a small smile pull on his lips and put a warm feeling in his chest. Then he halts his step. He blinks a few times, but then concludes that, yes, he feels happy again. After that realisation, he quickly walks after Kise into the store before the blonde can see him pausing.

Kise really did his job well, he isn't feeling depressed anymore.

Without complaining he lets Kise do his thing in the store. The blonde only buys one last thing before they finally head back.

When they walk from the shopping center to the train, Kise voices his thoughts about going all the way back to Atsushi's house with him. "Need to be sure that you get home safe on your own birthday, right?" Kise says with a serious voice.

"I'm not a child, Kise-chin." Atsushi whines, which makes Kise chuckle. But in the end Atsushi doesn't stop the blonde.

They get a to-go dinner box at a stall before the train station, because it was already dinner time and Atsushi was hungry again. In the twenty minutes they need to wait for the train, Atsushi ate his own share, and the leftovers from Kise. When their train home finally arrives, Atsushi sees that it luckily isn't too crowded.

They find two free spots, Atsushi sits next to Kise while Kise looks at his watch again. For a second Atsushi imagines how it would have been if Himuro was with him today instead of Kise. But he shuts that thought down directly.

His own boyfriend had other, apparently more important things to do. It was Kise who was here with him on his birthday. The last one Atsushi had expected, to be honest.

"Hey Kise-chin." Atsushi says softly.

"Hmm?" The blonde looks up.

"Thank you, for today. I had fun and it cleared my mind." Atsushi confides sincerely.

Kise smiles warmly. "I had fun too! Let's get you back home, then my mission is complete."

Atsushi nods, not really thinking about what mission Kise is talking about.

~

They are walking upon Atsushi's home, when Atsushi asks. "Do you want to sleep over for tonight?"

He presumed that it was another long journey from Akita all the way to the Kanto region, and it was already late. If the blonde went home now, he would be at his place in the middle of the night.

Atsushi tells him that he has a guest room and the room of his parents, so plenty space for him to stay over. Kise hums for a moment but then says. "I will think about. Let's first go inside."

Atsushi nods and puts his keys in the door. However, Kise puts his hand on the door. "Before you go inside. Do you already know what to say to Himurocchi?" Kise asks. Atsushi looks at him suspiciously.

"Yeah...?" He says, made a little unsure by the sudden question.

Kise then smiles and takes his hand of the door. He gestures Atsushi to go inside, but the giant feels like there is something not adding up.

Still, he opens the door and walks inside. He kicks off his shoes, puts his shopping bags down and walks further into the house. But just before his hand reaches for the light switch, he smells something that doesn't belong in his house.

His heart starts beating faster and he quickly flicks on the light but then-

"SURPRISE!!!"

A chorus of voices starts yelling and confetti is thrown in the air.

Atsushi is attacked by colourful banners and balloons, all containing 'Happy birthday' in bright letters. The living room is cleared, the couch is standing against the wall now and the table is full of chips, cookies and other kind of food. There are also standing bottles with different drinks on the table, with red cups beside them.

But in the cleared-up space in the living room stands the biggest surprise. All his friends are here!

Atsushi gasps and stands with his hand still frozen on the light switch. He looks around and spots Himuro first, who is looking at Atsushi with a nervous smile. Next to him stands a redhead Atsushi doesn't know, with his hand upon Kuroko Tetsuya's shoulder. The redhead has a big grin on his face, contrasting with Kuroko's expressionlessness.

On the other side of Himuro stands Midorima Shintaro, adjusting his glasses. At Midorima's arm hangs another raven haired guy. Mirodima, surprisingly doesn't mind the physical contact with this boy. Atsushi then concludes that that must be the Takao Kazunari, where Midorima complains so much about.

Takao is almost jumping with excitement and still has the rests of the confetti canon his hands. Next to them, leaning against the table with a glass in his hand, stands Akashi Seijuuro. He is wearing a grey suit with red accents which match perfectly with his scarlet hair. With his dichromatic eyes, he is looking just as fondly at the company as Atsushi is looking surprised.

And lastly there is Aomine Daiki, who stands a bit to the side of Kuroko, slumped against the wall but now stepping away from it. He is looking behind Atsushi and spreads his arms with a smirk. Atsushi feels the air whooshing past him and sees a happy Kise diving into the bluenet's arms. Aomine holds him close. "Good job, babe." He murmurs on top of Kise's head.

Then, as if Kise's arrival was the que, the company starts singing, well more chanting, the happy birthday song. It sounds not really pitch perfect, but for Atsushi it is the most perfect birthday song he has ever heard.

An enormous smile appears on giant's face. They are all here singing for him! He immediately regrets thinking that he was all alone on his birthday. While he was mopping, his friends were planning a party. A surprise party!

Then his eyes fall on Himuro again. A sudden realization strikes Atsushi. Suddenly all the texting, all the absentness, all the secrets make sense. He did this. He organized the surprise party.

A heavy burden falls of Atsushi's shoulders. Himuro was not done with him, only busily organizing something FOR him.

"Muro-chin." Atsushi says with a shaky breath.

Himuro, who was fumbling nervously at the end of his shirt, gives him a warm smile, which is so forgiving that Atsushi can't do anything else than rushing over and sweeping the other in his arms. "Muro-chin, I am so sorry." He whispers.

Himuro immediately hugs back just as fiercely as Atsushi. A big sigh escapes the little guy. Then he pats Atsushi on his back and says softly. "It's okay, big bear. It's okay."

Atsushi hears the other's voice breaking on the last word and he pulls back. There he sees Himuro's face with still the everlasting smile, but his eyes are swimming with unshed tears. "Happy birthday Atsushi." Himuro says.

Atsushi gently lays his hand against the others cheek and puts a soft, loving kiss upon Himuro's lips. "Thank you." He says with an even unsteady voice as his boyfriend.

"Oi, why does he get all the credit?" Aoimine grunts from the side.

"Shush it, Aominecchi." Kise says and slaps him on the shoulders. The blonde quickly whips away a stray tear and smiles.

Atsushi pulls more away from his boyfriend, but he keeps his hand placed on Himuro's lower back.

"This is such a surprise." Atsushi says now to everyone in the room. He keeps looking around astonished, taking in all the happy faces. "Thank you all so much." He says a little softer, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

He hears giggling from behind him. "Kise-chin is that why you took me shopping?" He asks the source of the bubbly laugh.

The blond nods and then lays his head against Aomine's shoulder, who immediately responds with putting his arm around the guy's middle. "Among other things." Kise says secretly.

Then Kuroko starts pulling at Himuro's sleeve. The tugging is a bit annoyed so the little guy probably was trying to get the raven's attention for a longer time. "The cake." He reminds Himuro then.

"Oh right!" Himuro then steps away from the group. Atsushi pulls his hand back to his side and watches him disappear in the kitchen.

"Ah, Taiga! Little help please!" Himuro shouts and the redhead that Atsushi hadn't recognized earlier responses. Ah, so that is Taiga, Atsushi thinks.

Even when he knows that Himuro didn't give Taiga all his attention this last week, he still can't help to glare after the guy that speeds into the kitchen.

Kise then skips to Atsushi's side. "Murasakibaracchi, remember what you told me this morning?" He whispers in Atsushi's ear. "You will see now why Himurocchi was meeting with Kagamicchi today." He adds with a wink.

Then Himuro and Kagami come back, both holding the sides of a large plate. On that plate stands a mouth-watering, enormous birthday cake! The cake was two-layered, with on the top a beautiful bear carved in chocolate. The rest of the cake was decorated with plumes of whipped cream, strawberries and around the bear was 'Happy Birthday' written in chocolate.

The company starts exclaiming sounds of awe and Kagami and Himuro are getting a lot of praises. They set the cake on the table and then Kagami turns to Atsushi.

He hands him a kitchen knife, "Happy birthday again." He says awkwardly, feeling the tension that Atsushi radiates. Kagami glances at Himuro, who nods at him encouraging.

Then Kagami smiles at Atsushi friendly. "You can get the first part, I hope you like it. Tatsuya told me what kind of things you like, so I made a combination of chocolate, cake, cream, and strawberries."

Atsushi looks at the guy before him, and then at the beautiful cake. "It does look really good." The giant admits. He sees that Himuro is watching them closely and realizes that the raven still fears his reaction.

This is his boyfriend's best friend after all. And Taiga made him a really nice cake. Maybe he should give Taiga the benefit of the doubt.

Atsushi relaxes his stance and Kagami mirrors him, the tension between them disappears. Atsushi gives Kagami a nod and walks to the cake.

Someone is making pictures because Atsushi sees a flash of light. He looks back at the camera in Akashi's hands and smiles while gesturing at the cake.

"Ah come on! Just slice the cake already." Aomine grunts. "I heard enough tales from Kuroko, I need to taste Bakami's food myself."

Kagami gets a look on his face that is a mixture of irritation and pride. "Stop calling me that, Aho." He says, but without spite in his voice. It only results in Aomine calling him 'Baka' back.

Then Atsushi slices the cake in multiple parts, which are shared between the group. The bear is taken of the cake and put on a plate on the table. But Atsushi is sure that it would be eaten before the end of the evening, mostly by himself if he gets the chance.

When everyone has a piece. They simultaneously start eating. An echo of moaning fills the room. "Wow this really is good!"

Kagami gets a little flustered and starts scratching the back of his head. "Well I couldn't have made it without Tatsuya's help." He confesses.

Himuro, who now stands next to Atsushi again, meets his gaze and grins up to him. The giant sees a little whipped cream on the corner of the Himuro's lips and reaches forward with a thumb to softly swipe it away.

Without thinking he puts his thumb in his mouth and tastes the cream. "Mm, so sweet." He hums with closed eyes. When he opens them again to look down at his boyfriend, he sees the him looking at him with lustful eyes and a blush that even spreads to the tops of his ears.

Atsushi feels a warmth tingling inside him at that beautiful sight. Slowly he bends forward and captures his boyfriend's lips with his. For a moment, he forgets that they are in a room filled with people, but when he remembers, he pulls back a little with a deep rumble still in his chest. He can still feel the warmth of Himuro's breath over his lips. "Muro-chin, this is the best present ever." He says with his voice still low.

He then leans more back, so he could look in Himuro's eyes intently when telling him the next words. "And I am so sorry for getting angry. Please forgive me, I really shouldn't-"

But Himuro silences him with a fork full of cake. Atsushi munches surprised on the delicious treat while Himuro shakes his head. "You are already forgiven. But really, I should be the one that says sorry."

Atsushi wants to protest, but he still has his mouth full, so Himuro continues. "In my enthusiasm of organizing this party, I totally lost sight of what was most important. You. When I reflected on the past week, I realised that in my eagerness to keep you out of the secret, I also shut you out completely. I wish I could say that it was necessary for keeping the surprise party a secret, but I know that I could have done more with you, without a chance of exposing the secret."

Himuro looks up at the giant with regret, but Atsushi only smiles down at him. He is so happy that Himuro forgives him. "It is okay." He says convinced, but then with a little more doubt in his voice. "We are okay?"

His boyfriend gives him a beaming smile and nods with an acknowledging hum. "We are okay." He answers. "Totally."


	6. Chapter 6

Akashi takes the initiative to start with the presents when everyone had a piece of the delicious cake. Meanwhile Aomine keeps staring at the cake so long, that Kagami starts slicing another piece for him. After that, the others (minus Midorima, who keeps standing on respectful distance) hoard back to the cake for their own second slice.

Akashi hands Atsushi a golden envelope in the chaos. "Happy birthday Atsushi." He says fondly. With a somewhat softer voice he continues. "I must say, your boyfriend managed to organize a lot in the little time he had. He exceeded everyone's expectations. Don't let this guy get out of your sight."

Atsushi beams proudly and watches Himuro getting his own piece while talking to Takao. "I won't." He answers his former captain. After that, he opens the envelope and sees that Akashi gave him two tickets for a weekend-long hot springs trip. And not just any hot springs, the most luxurious one that Akita has!

"I assume that you know who to take there, don't you?" Akashi asks with a glimmer in his eyes.

Atsushi nods happily. "Thanks Aka-chin."

Akashi's present is promptly followed by Midorima's presents. Namely Atsushi's lucky item of his birthday; a rainbow pencil case (where does he find these things?), and a video game.

For a moment Atsushi is surprised by the video game. Truly, Midorima can take the weirdest Lucky items with him, just now he brought a terracotta hand-painted vase with him, which is standing in the corner of the room. Midorima checks on it now and then to make sure that it stands save. But for the green haired boy to buy him a video game, that is far out of character.

But then Takao pops up besides his teammate and starts babbling about the game and starts describing it in bright colours. Atsushi catches Midorima's gaze then, lingering on the raven haired boy besides him, and suddenly it is clear why he had chosen this game as a present.

After those two, Kise comes up with another present. A shirt with an adorable little bear printed on the front. "I saw you looking at it today and I couldn't resist buying this!" He chants.

Himuro starts laughing when he sees what Atsushi is holding in his hands. "Please put it on Atsushi!" He asks in such a way that Atsushi's couldn't refuse.

Kise softly cheers that the t-shirt doesn't tear when Atsushi tries it on. Although it is a XXL size, the shoulders are stretched dangerously and the bottom of the shirt hangs a bit high on Atsushi's waist.

"Murasakibara-kun," Kuroko speaks up when Atsushi thanked the blonde. "Kagami-kun and I worked together for your present, we hope you like it." He says in his calm voice. Then he hands the giant a basket full of kitchen supplies, all needed to bake a cake, flour and sugar included.

"Yeah, we only didn't include the milk and such, because we didn't know when you'd have the time to use it. And now it doesn't have an expiration date." Kagami adds.

Atsushi accepts the present with a 'thanks' and an excited glimmer in his eyes, he decides that he will use this as soon as he has the time for it. He then turns back to Kuroko. "Wait, how do you know Taiga too?" He questions.

Himuro, who was watching, then interrupts. "Oh Atsushi, remember when I told you about that basketball game I did with Taiga and his friend? It was actually with Kuroko. They both go to the same school and play in the school's basketball team."

Himuro then directs himself to Kuroko and apologizes that he had forgotten his name earlier. Kuroko says that he doesn't hold it against him, it happens to him all the time.

Kagami grins down at the boy with the azure blue hair. "He still manages to creep up to me sometimes, but you get used to it. And you should watch him use that skill in basketball! He is amazing!" The redhead says vigorously, which gives Kuroko the faintest blush, only noticeable if you watched really closely.

But Atsushi already knows what Kagami is talking about, of course. The little boy was part of his former team after all. He still finds it amusing to see Kagami talking so passionately about Kuroko's ability. A small smirk starts spreading on Atsushi's face. It seems like Kuroko had found himself a new light.

To Kagami he says. "Muro-chin also told me about your basketball. He said that you were almost unbeatable. But I don't believe him. Even with Kuro-chin on your side, I will still crush you." He says challenging.

Kagami's eyes light up brightly by the challenge. "Hah? Well play me if you are so sure. One-on-one." The red head chides with a defiant expression.

"Did I hear someone say one-on-one?" Aomine buds into the conversation. "You think you can win against any of us, Bakagami? Why don't you try me first?" He says with a manic grin.

"I won't lose from you if that is what you are saying, Ahomine." Kagami directly shots back. But just as Aomine starts with "No one can beat me, but me." Kuroko cuts them off.

"We can also make it a tournament. Two against two, that would make it and even more interesting game." The small guy proposes and now even Mirodima starts paying attention.

"Oh yes, this definitely needs to happen!" Aomine says exited. "I am claiming Kise." He grins while putting his hand on the blonde's head and ruffles through the golden locks.

Kise exclaims an indignant sound and swats the hand away. Which leads in Aomine trying even harder to disorder his hair.

Meanwhile Kuroko grabs his phone. "I will make a group app so we can discuss a date later." He says and starts typing.

"Can we also participate in the game?" Midorima asks for both him and Takao, while adjusting his glasses again.

Kuroko nods, "I will just put everybody here in the group."

The swatting between Aomine and Kise then reaches its climax. "Aominecchi~ stop it!" Kise wails, but even now the blonde is still smiling at Aomine. "How about you gave Murasakibaracchi your present already." He tries as distraction.

That makes Aomine stop. "Oh right!" He walks to the side of the room and back to the giant with a large bottle in his hands. "The sweetest beverage I could find!" He hands it over to a very interested Atsushi.

"You bought him alcohol?" Kuroko asks surprised while looking up from his phone.

"What? It is a party." Aomine grumbles to defend himself. "Oh and before I forget." The bluenet turns to Atsushi. "When we were decorating the place, a package arrived. We put it in your room. It was heavy as fuck though."

Atsushi directly looks at his bedroom door, but surprisingly he doesn't feel the pull of the presents tugging on him. Right now, he is more than content with his party. His parent's presents can wait.

That makes him remember to look at his phone, he needs to know when his parents will be home, and it might be a good thing to tell them the present arrived on time.

Atsushi nods at Aomine as sign that he heard him and then says. "Muro-chin, do you know where my phone is? I want to tell my parents that the package is arrived."

Himuro smiles, quickly walks to the kitchen and brings back his phone. But before he hands it over he looks at Atsushi sheepishly and tells him. "Ah, your mother called a few times. I ended up picking up one time, to ask her permission to threw a party here."

Atsushi looks surprised, Himuro spoke to his mother? "What did she say?" He asks promptly.

"Well, she agreed of course, otherwise we wouldn't be standing here right now. I had a back-up plan for the party at my place though, but this was a better place." Himuro grins. "Oh, and she asked me to tell you that she and your father will be arriving in Japan tomorrow afternoon." He continues while finally handing Atsushi his phone.

"Okay, we can easily clean the house before that, right?" Atsushi says while scrolling through his phone for his mother's texts with the hand that doesn't hold the bottle with alcohol.

"Exactly, fits perfectly." Himuro agrees happily. That is the moment the giant realises how much thought Himuro must have put in this party. He looks up from his phone to give his boyfriend a fond look and his little cat understands Atsushi's message without words.

Atsushi then takes a second to type a quick text in which he confirms that the package arrived. He puts his phone swiftly in his jeans pocket.

"Thanks Mine-chin, for accepting the package." He says while putting the bottle on the table with the other drinks.

"No problem, but you should try some of the drink. I am sure you'd like it." Aomine answers, looking excited to see how the giant reacts on his present.

"I was planning to try it now. Does someone else want to try it?" The giant asks. Directly Takao comes to stand beside him. The guy was watching everything from the side lines until now, but he takes his chance when he sees it.

"I have heard about this drink! It supposed to be even sweeter than the strawberry juice that they sell at my school." He says curiously.

"Mm, we will see." Atsushi says while breaking open the bottle. Aomine himself is also quickly present. Atsushi starts pouring the contents in multiple cups and just puts them on the table, for the people who want it.

Kise then puts on the music, and the rest of the group starts getting their own drinks and snacks. Takao stands next to Atsushi when the giant takes his first sip of the drink. And wow, that is really sweet. His purple eyes widen in surprise and immediately takes another sip.

"Wow, it’s really sweet!" Takao voices his thoughts. "Thanks for sharing this with me!" He beams up and then holds his cup to Atsushi as thanks.

"You are Mido-chin's friend Takao right?" Atsushi asks him.

"Yes! Or at least, I think Shin-chan is still in denial about the friend part. But he let me come to this party with him - after persistent asking, that is. So, I think that that counts as a friend in his dictionary, right?"

Atsushi smirks when he hears that. "Yeah, Mido-chin has his own ways of doing things. Thanks for making him buy me that video game."

Takao then looks up at the giant. "What do you mean? I don't think I can make Shin-chan do anything really." He laughs uncomfortably.

Atsushi hums and wants to disagree, but then Midorima walks their way.

"Shin-chan, you really need to try this! It really is incredibly sweet." Takao chants to the green-head enthusiastically.

"I'm not planning on getting drunk, Bakao." Midorima says stiffly.

"Neither am I, but you can just try it." Takao urges.

Then the doorbell rings, Atsushi looks at Himuro questionably but walks to the door, leaving the other two boys alone.

"Oh, that must be the rest of them!" Himuro says from the other side of the room.

"Rest of them?" Atsushi murmurs to himself, but when he opens the door he sees who Himuro meant.

"Mu-kun! I am so sorry that we are late, these guys were even worse with their punctuality than Dai-chan! I waited for so long and after that they wanted to go to a grocery store first!" Momoi Satsuki blurted out the moment Atsushi opened the door. The little pink-haired girl was surrounded by three tall and broad guys, who were wearing casual clothes but with their white-purple trainer jackets over it.

"Murasakibara! Happy birthday big guy!" His basketball teammates were grinning at him, all holding a lot of grocery bags.

"The party can start now!" They say when Atsushi lets them in. The three guys directly walk to the table and put down more of bottles of booze and drinks, one of them even has beer.

Momoi heaves a heavy sigh when the guys were all inside. "I now understand why Himuro wanted them to come somewhat later and all at the same time, but if I knew that collecting them was this much work, then I hadn't volunteered to do it." She complains, but within seconds she lets the exhaustion fade from her posture. With renewed energy, she attacks Atsushi with a bone-crushing hug. "Mu-kun, congratulations!"

Atsushi hugs her back more gently, as he knows that the girl might be strong, she is still fragile in his arms. "Thank you, Sa-chin. Glad that you are here."

Momoi looks up at the giant with a warm smile. "Let's go celebrate, shall we?" She chides and pulls Atsushi behind her to the living room.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for all the kudo's and lovely comments! They really motivate me to write even more. I hope you like reading this chapter as much as I liked writing it <3.

The evening progresses and the drinks spill more freely as the clock keeps ticking. Somehow Himuro ends up with Atsushi's new shirt on. It fits him better than the giant, but Himuro still looks like he is swimming in the shirt.

Atsushi decided that it was warm enough in the room to stay shirtless and is now talking to Midorima next to the cake. Slowly the giant manages to eat the remains of the cake, which isn't much anymore since his basketball teammates took their share of the cake.

Akashi, Momoi and Kuroko claimed the couch and are chatting there with a bowls of chips between them. Atsushi watched them for a moment. He can't remember when he saw his old captain enjoining himself in such a casual situation. Akashi still sits straight and looks as much as a king of man as always, but for someone who knows him, the small signs of relaxations are noticeable.

Aomine somehow succeeds to start a drinking game with Kagami, and Himuro as judge. Actually it started as a bet between Kagami and Aomine, that the other couldn't even drink a whole glass of beer in one swing. Which led into a game in which they tried to drink a whole glass faster than the other.

Himuro had relocated the small table, that usually stood in front of the couch, to the middle of room on a large carpet. Kagami and Aomine were sitting on the carpet, on opposite sides of the small table. Himuro had grabbed a pillow from the couch and was now sitting on that next to the table. The cups on the small table were every time filled a little fuller after a match ended and the winner was the one who drunk everything and put his empty glass on the table first.

Atsushi actually enjoined watching the two idiots trying to beat each other. But then Kise joined the two in their competition, and to everyone's surprise, he beat the two in every match that followed. He was just too fast.

Much to Aomine's chagrin. "He started later! it isn't a fair game anymore!" He shouted when Kise had beaten him four times in a row.

Kagami grunted in agreement. "Yeah, he is not nearly as drunk as we are." He says.

But Kise just stood up and got some stronger booze for into his glass. The game continued, and Kise kept winning, until Aomine slammed his cup too hard on the table in frustration and Himuro decided to start another game. He didn't want the table to break.

At that time, the blonde was already getting very giddily. But surprisingly, not Kise nor Aomie or Kagami were the ones that were the most drunk on the party. That title was earned by Atsushi's teammates.

Kenichi Okumara's roaring laughter was filling the whole living room when he was laughing at one of Takao's jokes. The three Yosen players were sitting with Takao on the chairs from the dinner table, which they had positioned so, that they were sitting in a circle.

But just sitting in a normal circle was too lame, so they decided to turn the chairs and sit on it every way that wasn't the way you supposed to sit on chairs. Kensuke Fukui, who was competing with Takao in telling the worst jokes, was just as drunk as his friend. Both boys' control over their soulanimal had slipped over the evening already. Okumara's laugh sometimes took the form of the gibbering of an ape and Fukui's ears had turned pointy and canine-like.

Takao might have been on the same level of toxicity as Kise, but handled his alcohol a little better than the blonde. Wei Lui was the only sober one. Probably he realised that they would need at least one person who could walk properly if they wanted to find their homes again.

"He is making a fool out of himself, I shouldn't have let him come with me." Midorima scoffs while leaning against the table next to Atsushi. He is watching Takao sitting with the others, but he can't follow the animated conversation.

"I actually like the guy, and he seems to be having fun. It can't be that bad." Atsushi says lazily. Actually the giant doesn't really care about the noise that much. The incredible taste of the cake and the chocolate of the bear is much more interesting.

"Not that bad?" Midorima barks. "Just now, he was-" But Midorima doesn't finish because his attention is dragged away by something else.

Atsushi follows his gaze and then sees a giant hawk flying through his living room, chased by his teammate Okumara. Suddenly Midorima looks a lot more panicked.

"What are they doing?" He says loudly. The attention of everyone in the room is now by the hawk and the Yosen member, stumbling behind it through the room. Atsushi quickly scans the room. He hears Aomine and Kagami laughing. Kise is looking at the hawk in awe and is tugging on Aomine's t-shirt while saying 'Look! A pretty bird!'.

The members on the couch are watching the spectacle with more restraint. Atsushi makes eye contact with Akashi, who is looks ready to intervene when he deems it necessary. But he looks away when he hears Fukui shouting something back to Midorima.

"Ah, don't worry, don't worry!" Fukui's voice has a little slur in it from the alcohol. "They just made a bet. Okumara said he could catch anything, but your friend here tries to prove him wrong."

"What?! Is he stupid? It will only lead in him getting hurt." Midorima hisses. And then he tries to catch Takao's attention. "Takao! Stop this nonsense."

But before the hawk gives any clue of understanding the green head, Atsushi hears a familiar sound. Okumara starts tearing through his clothes.

Within moments, a big snarling Gorilla is standing in the middle of the room. Atsushi doesn't think twice and directly takes off his pants to turn into his bear. A gorilla in your living room is already asking for trouble, but a drunk, slightly aggravated gorilla, that is reason enough to evacuate the whole building.

The hawk, now understanding the danger of the situation, screeches in shock. The gorilla shows his teeth, goes to stand on his hind legs and reaches incredibly fast in the sky. The bird can only just make a sharp turn in the air to prevent from being smashed between the strong hands of the ape.

Atsushi sees in how Takao, in his fright, flees to the only safe place he can think of.

The hawk flies in his direction, but instead of hiding behind the big bear, Takao lands on Midorima's shoulder.

Atsushi can smell the room filling with distress and sees that Akashi is already half out of his expensive suit, planning to turn into his mighty Lion.

The gorilla snarls to the bird on the guy's shoulder and slams his fist against his broad chest provokingly. Atsushi tenses his muscles, ready to jump between them, and heaves out a low growl. But he, together with everyone else in the room, freezes when they hear a dangerously low hiss coming from Midorima.

Even the Gorilla looks a bit surprised by the unknown sound and starts looking more closely at what is guarding his prey.

The deadly stare he receives is so intense, that the gorilla decides to take a slow step back. That is the time Wei Lui chooses to intervene. The guy has more experience with his friend when he is turned, but he also knows that he can't just stop a gorilla with brute force.

"Okumara, you are too drunk. Let's go outside and catch some fresh air, shall we?" He says with a gentle voice. The gorilla keeps watching the person before him with clouded eyes for a moment, but then he appears to come back to his senses and backs away. "That's it! Now let's go see if the stars are still shining outside." Lui says and tugs the big ape with him. The moment the gorilla disappears from the room, the tension fades.

Atsushi heaves out a sigh of relief through his black snout and looks at the last Yosen member on the chair. Fukui's ears are laying flat against his head and he looks with scared eyes at Midorima. The boy then quickly scrambles up, gets Okumara's clothes and follows his friends outside while mumbling something that sounds like 'Sorry for that, I am going to check on Okumara.'

Aomine starts laughing loudly, which catches on both Kagami and Kise. "Wheeew, did you see that? I wished he had his tail, so we could have seen him literally running away with his tail between his legs." The blunet heaves out, shoulders convulsing from laughing.

Suddenly Atsushi feels a hand petting him softly on his head. He looks up and sees Himuro next to him. "Hey, big bear." He says gently, while caressing his with his fingers through Atsushi's thick fur. "No need to keep standing this guarded on your own party, you know Lui can handle Okumara perfectly fine."

Atsushi feels his muscles relax under his boyfriend's attention. Himuro is right, but just for the fun of it, he stays in his bear form a little longer. After all, Muro-chin keeps caressing him this way.

Then his eyes fall back on Midorima, who still stands on the same spot, and looking like he is trembling from withholding his fury. Himuro follows his gaze and then says slowly. "Are you guys okay?"

But Midorima doesn't answer him, instead he looks at the Hawk on his shoulder with a thundering gaze.

"Do you have a death wish?" Midorima hisses. The hawk has the decency to look a bit sheepish and hunches into himself, but Midorima isn't done. "How stupid can you be? He could have hurt you!" He says sharply.

The bird then shifts back, and within a second Takao stands behind Midorima, hugging him tightly. "Aw, Shin-chan, so you do care about me!" He says giggling. The alcohol probably made Takao forget about the shock already, because he doesn't show any sign of fear anymore. Not even for the now very pissed guy in his arms.

Midorima, even in his enraged state, becomes embarrassingly red when he realizes how Takao is leaning against him. "Take on your clothes, Bakao." He grunts to avoid the subject, but he doesn't push Takao away.

"Hehe, it's not like you haven't seen me naked before, right?" Takao slurs. If possible, Mirodima's blush gets even redder. "That was during changing in the locker room after basketball practice. That is different." He sputters while looking very uncomfortable.

"Is it?" Takao slumps even closer against the taller man.

"Oi Takao, exactly how much did you drink?!" Midorima says and then starts leading the guy away from the living room into the first room he sees. "And don't just stand here naked like this, everyone can see you now."

Before Takao disappears in what Atsushi knows is the bathroom, he chants happily. "OH MY GASH. Shin-chan, are you jealous!?"

Mirodima slams the door shut before the guy's face and stiffly turns around. He glares at the direction of Aomine and Kise when he hears them chuckle, and goes to pick Takao's cloths from the floor. He directly walks back to the bathroom and throws the clothes inside.

"Put these on." Midorima orders and closes the door before Takao could say something back. He keeps standing next to the door with his arms crossed before his chest, not looking anyone in the eye and still having a little blush on his cheeks.

"Wow," Aomine says loud enough for Atsushi's bear ears to hear. "That guy manages to draw more reaction out of Midorima than I have my whole life."

Kise snickers besides him. "Yeah, I think that he is a good one for Midorimacchi."

Aomine nods and bottoms his next drink in one swing. "Well probably Midorima is too uptight to see it himself."

"Mm maybe. But if someone is able to get through that thick shield of him, then my bet is on Takaoichi." Kise says surely.

Atsushi then feels Himuro leaning more on him, and sees that his boyfriend is actually getting a little tired. He grunts at him but the raven haired boy just smiles back.

So Atsushi starts walking to the carpet. The hand on his head falls away when he walks, but when the bear looks back, he sees Himuro following him.

He looks for a good place and then lays down next to Aomine on the carpet. He draws his front arms up and puts his head onto it.

Himuro goes to sit against his flank, between his front and hind legs. They have sat like this before, and Atsushi loves how Himuro unconsciously keeps caressing his fur when he lays against him like this.

The bear hums contently and looks around while Himuro starts talking with Kagami again. He sees that Momoi is standing next to Aomine, while scolding the bluenet about something he said, to the amusement of Kise and even Kuroko, who is now sitting next to the Kagami.

Kuroko also wanted to participate in the next game they were playing. They were now playing something with cards. Atsushi didn't even know he had playing cards in his house, maybe someone had taken it with him to the party.

Akashi is back in his suit again and sits alone on the couch, while overlooking the party again with a seemingly neutral expression, as if he hadn't just almost changed in his soulanimal.

Atsushi just wants to turn to him with a questionable gaze, as his captain mostly knows what he wants to say even in his bear form, when Okumara walks into the room again. This time in his human form, with his teared clothes hanging loosely around his body.

The guy looks ashamed and is about to apologize to Midorima, who keeps looking at him sharply. Behind Okumara stands Lui, ushering his friend to say the whole apology. Fukui, at Lui's side, still looks around nervously.

Atsushi then slowly gets up, so Himuro can lean away before he falls backwards, and walks to his pants. He takes it in his mouth and walks to his room, where he changes human and puts it on.

There he also searches for a second set of clothes, and finds jogging pants and an old shirt.

"Here." He says when he borrows his clothes to Okumara. "Please give it back later."

The guy thanks him with a broad smile, happy that Atsushi doesn't seem mad at him, and starts to change in the middle of the room.

Lui face-palms himself at his friend's behaviour. "Okay, I think it is time that we head home. Thanks for the invitation, it was a good party." Lui tells Atsushi.

"You should thank Muro-chin." Atsushi says but also thanks them for coming.

Fukui is the last one to linger at the door. "He is alright, right?" He asks Atsushi lastly, while gesturing at the bathroom where Takao still is.

Atsushi nods. Which reassures Fukui enough. "See you Monday then." He waves and walks after the rest of his friends.

In the meantime, Takao emerged from the bathroom, surprisingly perfectly dressed.

"Shin-chan!" He directly attacks Midorima, but trips over his own feet in the one meter he needs to cross to get to the green head.

Midorima catches him awkwardly and Takao directly takes the advantage of burying deeper into the taller man's arms.

"I think it is also time for Takao and me to go home, Takao already made a fool out of himself enough." Midorima then says while putting his glasses straight.

Akashi stands up from the couch and walks to them. "How about a lift, Shintaro? My chauffeur will be bringing me home, and your place is not that far from mine."

Midorima gets a bothersome expression on his face. "I don't mean to make more troubles for you."

"No, I insist, it isn't any trouble for me. And I don't think that your friend will get home like this."

Everyone looks at Takao who is now humming some song while leaning on Midorima's shoulder. Midorima sighs deep then but agrees.

"I will call my chauffeur, he will be here in under 5 minutes." Akashi says then and leaves the living room for the quieter kitchen.

Momoi follows him and Atsushi just hears her ask "Sei-kun, can I maybe ride with you?" When Midorima starts talking to him.

"Atsushi, happy birthday again, and Himuro thanks for the invitation. My apologies for the bad behaviour of Takao." Midorima says to Atsushi and Himuro.

"No problem, thanks for your help! And take him home safe. He really made the party more fun though, so don't be too harsh on him." Himuro says with a laugh.

Akashi then emerges from the kitchen. "Satsuki will be going with us Shintaro. Good night everyone. Have a nice night Atsushi." He says, and nods friendly one last time to Himuro.

Then the tree guys leave the house, and enter a large black car. As soon as Midorima put Takao in the backseats of the car, he walks back inside and gets his terracotta hand-painted vase, which miraculously survived the party.

Momoi takes her time to say goodbye and hugs everyone on her way out. "Bye guys! It was good to see you all again! Let's meet up soon again, okay?" She says happily and then also follows the others to the car.

Atsushi walks outside and waves at them when they ride away. He is still smiling when he steps back inside. There he sees Himuro, remaining the last person in the hallway. He was waiting for him against the wall, while dozing away a little.

A sudden urge to kiss the guy blossoms in Atsushi's chest, and he doesn't doubt. He steps close and puts his left hand against the wall next to Himuro's head, and the other softly against Himuro's cheek.

The smaller guy is already looking up at him with a mischievous look in his eyes, he knows what Atsushi is doing and tilts his chin slightly to meet the giant halfway.

They both had some drinks. After all, Atsushi did love the gift from Aomine and drank a lot of it. But Atsushi can't even start to compare the pleasant buzz from the alcohol with the pure bliss -the ecstasy- he feels the second his lips meet with Himuro's lips. They are so soft, so sweet, still tasting like the sweet drink Himuro had last. And it feels like he doesn't have any other choice than deepening the kiss.

He feels Himuro's fingertips brushing at his nape, and goes to stand even closer, pinning the guy completely between the wall and his body. Shielding him from anything in the world, keeping him safe in only his arms.

When he breaks the kiss to talk, his voice is still husky. "This party was the best present ever. Couldn't think of anything better." He tells Himuro slowly.

The smaller guy looks up with a large smile on his face. "Really, does that mean that you don't want the other present?" Himuro says jokingly.

This makes Atsushi pull back a little further. He looks curiously in the grey orbs and asks. "Other?"

Himuro untangles himself and swiftly gets something out of his jeans pocket. He lays a small package in Atsushi's hand, while watching Atsushi's reaction actively.

"I actually wanted to give it to you later, when we were all alone. But we are now, and I cannot wait anymore." Himuro tells him with a bashful smile.

"You can open it" Himuro tells him a little nervous when Atsushi keeps looking at the package in his hands.

Atsushi pulls away the wrapping paper and sees a small rectangular casket. He looks up at Himuro for a second, trying to understand what his boyfriend is giving him. But he can't think of anything, thus he decides to just look and opens the case.

What the giant sees there makes his eyes go wide. In the casket lies a bracelet, made from thick dark leather. The shackle is made of that special kind of mechanism that is invented to expand when a person turns, so the bracelet won't break and even stays around the person.

But what makes Atsushi speechless, is the silver rectangle in the middle of the bracelet. The leather is attached to it on the left and on the right, and it is slightly bend so it falls perfectly against the skin of his wrist.

On that silver, a symbol is engraved. It is a beautiful print of a bear claw, in dark brown. And in the center of the claw, a smaller paw of a cat is engraved in silver.

"I had it designed especially for us, the symbol I mean. It is a bear and a cat, you see? Together." Himuro says softly.

Atsushi keeps staring at is soundlessly. It is so perfectly them. His bear paw in dark brown, like his fur. And the smaller cat's paw in silver, so in his claw, as if the cat is laying his paw in the bear's hands. And in such a beautiful form! And the bracelet is in such nice leather and-

"Ah, you don't need to wear it if you don't like it." Himuro suddenly tells him with a timid voice.

Atsushi directly looks at him and realizes that he hadn't responded to the present in any way yet. He was quiet for too long and Himuro interpreted it as a bad sign.

"I love it." He directly says to make up for his silence. "It is wonderful. Beautiful." He adds and as proof, he tries to put on the bracelet on his arm. But he never worked with a shackle like that before, and putting a bracelet on with just one hand while being slightly tipsy might not be the best way to succeed.

"Here, let me help." Himuro proposes and takes it over form Atsushi. When the giant has the bracelet around his wrist, he looks at it in wonder. But within a second his gaze shifts to Himuro.

"Muro-chin." He says adoringly. Himuro gives him a warm smile back, now he knows that Atsushi likes his present, his nerves are completely gone.

"Thank yo-" But Atsushi can't finish his words of gratitude, because the next moment he is attacked by Himuro.

For a small (from Atsushi's point of view) guy, Himuro is very efficient in getting exactly what he wants from Atsushi. The giant bends forward to accommodate to Himuro's arms around his neck and Himuro leans forward on his toes.

This kiss is immediately more heated than the former, and the warmth that radiates between them is starting to make Atsushi's blood boil. He gasps when he breaks the kiss for a moment, only to scoop Himuro up and to push him up against the wall, holding his legs under his thighs. It earns him a small, stifled sound of pleasure and surprise when Himuro's back touches the cold wall.

The moment Atsushi gets close enough, Himuro is kissing him again. The little guy pulls his arms around Atsushi's neck, pulling him even closer. And it's getting harder for Atsushi to think. Especially when Himuro rakes one hand over his back all the way down, leaving behind angry red scratches.

But Atsushi loves it, loves how Himuro gets undone under him. From his touches, his kiss. And he groans when Himuro grips his hair tightly with his other hand, keeping his head in place.

Atsushi then grips Himuro's tights firmer and pulls the guy a little higher, exactly so that their bodies are touching everywhere. A full body shudder goes over Himuro's body and Atsushi really tries to hold in his groan, but still can't stop the little growl from escaping.

But then he also hears an unfamiliar squeak coming from the other side of the hallway. Atsushi pulls back form Himuro reluctantly to see what disturbed them and sees Kagami standing in the enter of the hallway, looking very awkward.

"A-ah, sorry I didn't mean..." Kagami stammers but then Kuroko comes to help.

"Kagami and I are heading home now, we need to catch the train." The cyan haired guy says with a neutral face, as if they hadn't interrupted them in their intimate moment.

"Ah." Is all Atsushi manages to respond, still holding on to Himuro. Luckily his boyfriend is faster to react and pushes Atsushi more back, so he let's go of him.

"Yes, okey." He says when he stands on his own legs again. A little embarrassed he scratches his neck, but he pulls himself together quite quickly. "Thank you both so much for helping me organize this party. Without you it wasn't possible."

Kuroko nods politely and Kagami answers, looking directly at Himuro, avoiding all eye-contact with Atsushi. "Ah don't worry about it. It was a lot of fun, both the organizing and the party."

Himuro then steps closer to his childhood friend and hold out his fist, which Kagami answers with a fist bump and an enormous smile.

Atsushi thinks it is about time he also says his gratitude to both guys, and does so. But his thanks to Kagami is with much less enthusiasm than to Kuroko. After all, the red head did disturb his moment with Himuro. Again.

The two guys then get their coats, and Kagami asks Kuroko at least two times if he wanted his scarf, because Kuroko had forgotten his. The cyan haired guy declines both times, though, telling Kagami that he is not cold easily, since his soulanimal is a Stoat and that stoats usually live in cold, over-snowed areas.

When they are ready to leave, both Himuro and Atsushi then wave them goodbye and wish them a save trip. Kagami tells them that it will be alright, and that he will look after Kuroko. Which Atsushi highly doubts. It probably will be the other way around.

"Have a nice night." Kuroko tells Atsushi lastly before he follows Kagami down the road. And maybe it is the alcohol in combination with the hormones, but Atsushi swears that he saw Kuroko smirking at them before he turned around.


	8. Chapter 8

The next day Atsushi wakes up with a throbbing headache. He remembers everything from last night, though. He remembers the surprising start, the delicious cake, the games and cosy chatting. He remembers the gorilla issue and remembers the amazing kissing in his hallway with Himuro.

After that, Kuroko and that red head went home. He and Himuro went back inside to find Kise almost passed out on the floor, half leaning into Aomine's lap. Kise already displayed the signs of his soulanimal.

Atsushi couldn't see if Kise's ears had turned, because Aomine had his hand through Kise's golden locks. But what he could see was a Kise's Golden Jackal's tail laying over his leg.

Aomine was looking at the blond with a look that was only reserved for him, and Atsushi wondered for a moment if he was looking at Himuro just as awestruck sometimes. The bluenet usually knows how to hide his feelings, mostly being a total ass in the process, but the drinks had loosened him up enough that he had dropped his mask completely.

The moment Kise noticed their return, his tail started wagging against the floor, which in turn alerted Aomine. "Murasakibaracchiii!" he said surprisingly without any hiccups. "Does your offer still stand?"

Atsushi had to think deeply what the blonde was talking about, also getting distracted by the way Aomine looked mesmerized at Kise's cutely wagging tail, as if he would pounce it that very second. But then Atsushi recalled that he had offered Kise to stay the night in the guest room.

"Yeah, of course, I can get another mattress and everything, so you could both stay." But Aomine had declined immediately, finally managing to tear his gaze away from his boyfriend's tail.

"We don't mind sharing." He said with a lopsided grin.

Atsushi had looked at Himuro and coughed the other also staring at Kise's still wagging tail. Right then he made a mental note to explore that apparently typical feline obsession of moving teasers. Would Himuro be insulted if he bought him a feather on a row, or a kitten toy?

Himuro and Aomine then put most of the glasses in the kitchen and the plastic cups into the bin, but the rest of the mess could wait for later. Kise did try to help, but when he stumbled almost over his own feet, Aomine had barked at him to go and sit put at the couch. In the meantime, Atsushi quickly prepared the guest room.

After everyone was ready for bed, Atsushi found himself back in his bedroom, staring at the box full presents from his parents. Himuro walked into his room a moment later and saw him. Slowly Atsushi felt two arms sliding around his waist. "You want to open them now?" The raven haired boy said in a soft voice.

Atsushi turned around to get his boyfriend at his front, that way he could hug him back. "Hmm." He wanted to get in bed with Himuro, but he also was really curious about his presents. And he just couldn't wait anymore.

"I will be quick." He said while loosening his hold on Himuro. But Himuro only chuckled. "It is your birthday, you can take all the time you want."

The box appeared to be filled with an unbelievably large amount of Russian candy. There was so much that even Atsushi thought that he couldn't eat it in a week. His stomach already started to growl at the sight of all the amazing sweets and before he knew he already opened two bags.

"You already brushed your teeth, Atsushi." Himuro said, but also took one of the sweets when presented. "I cawn bwush them lahter." Atsushi responded with his mouth still full.

There were also a lot of souvenirs from Russia, and Atsushi's eyes were glistering when he found an official basketball jersey from the national basketball team. Seriously, how did his father got his hands on these things? Because this was definitely his father's work, he knew how to pull some strings.

There was also a sweater from Russia, which was perfectly his size! Atsushi tried it on and was even amazed himself. "I believe you should go shopping in Russia more often, big bear, they at least have your size." Himuro joked.

"Only if you would go with me." Atsushi said, automatically voicing his thoughts, but then realizing that he spoke them aloud.

He felt a heat rising on his cheeks. Did he really just asked his boyfriend to travel with him to a faraway country? Honestly Atsushi had never left the country before, not even with his parents when they went away for business.

Isn't traveling together something people only do when they are serious about each other? Not that he wasn't serious about his relationship with Himuro, but he didn't mean to pressure Himuro like that so suddenly.

He also didn't want to take his words back either and now he was watching Himuro's reaction anxiously. The dim light in the room only illuminating the half of Himuro's face that was covered with this fringe. But then Himuro looked back at him, his head arched to the side, his fringe falling away just enough to be able to see both of his eyes.

"Well if we are going to shop for large sizes, then we can also go to America! I can be your tour guide there." He tells him with enthusiasm in his voice.

Atsushi looked at him in surprise, but then couldn't hide his tender smile. "You want to go to America with me?" He asks softly, his voice not more than a whisper.

Himuro goes to sit down on the bed, fidgeting with his hands on his lap. "Yeah, only if you'd like that of course. I mean, we can also go visit my family then, so you can, maybe, meet my parents?"

A warm sensation went through Atsushi's long body. Himuro even wanted him to meet his parents in America!

"Muro-chin." Atsushi said with a voice thick with emotion. "I would really like that."

Himuro looked up at him with such a fond expression in his eyes, that Atsushi put the rest of the presents away. He had something more important to do.

He rushed forward and engulfed Himuro with the warmest hug he had ever given. Himuro directly reciprocated and slid his hands under the new sweater.

His hands were cold against his now warm skin and Atsushi shivered. He wanted to voice his emotions, his love, everything right then. But Himuro beat him. The kiss he received was so full of Himuro's feelings, that Atsushi melted away.

Himuro then proceeded to tug Atsushi on the bed with him, and the kiss continued to get sloppier. They found out that Atsushi's new sweater and the shirt with the bear on it both fitted perfectly on the ground as well, and what happened after that-

Well, let's say that Atsushi was happy that his parents bought a house with such thick walls.

~

Atsushi grunts and gets out of bed, looking for a glass of water and something to dull his headache. In his sleepy state, he almost trips over the presents that still lay on the floor. He didn't take the time to put them back in the box yesterday.

The giant looks back at his bed, to check if he didn't wake Himuro up with his stumbling, but then he sees that his boyfriend had already left the bed before him. Suddenly Atsushi remembers that the same thing had happened only a week ago. That time he found Himuro in his kitchen, looking at things on his phone.

Now Atsushi realizes that that must have been the moment Himuro copied all the numbers of his friends, so he could contact them for the surprise party. He was blind for a lot of things, wasn't he? Had jealousy made him this blind, or was he just too dense and Himuro too sneaky?

Well, it doesn't matter now anymore. Himuro gave him an amazing party and even forgave him for being so mad at him. He also promised that he wouldn't keep such a big secret for him anymore, or at least that they would talk about things more. They didn't want to get in such an unnecessary fight again, only to find out afterwards that the worries and emotions were all based on false assumptions.

Atsushi gets his joggings pants and his new sweater off the ground to pull them on. It might be a little warm for it inside, but he is very proud of his new presents and wants to wear it.

Suddenly he hears a shattering crash coming from the kitchen and he quickly makes his way there.

He scowls against the bright light coming from the windows, which doesn't work well with his headache. But before he can get some water and the painkillers he hides in one of the drawers, he sees the cause of the crash. On the kitchen floor lies a broken glass, with shards discarded on the floor around it.

A growl comes from the other side of the room, where Atsushi spots a large black panther, peering under the couch, his black tail wagging back and forward. It is Aomine in his soulanimal. 

Literally no one was surprised to find out that Aomine Daiki was a large feline. His basketball overflows with the energy of a deadly predator. Not that Aomine hid it well. Of all Atsushi 's old teammates, Aomine was the one who changed in his animal the most, also at the most inconvenient timings. The guy enjoyed stalking people only to scare the heck out of them.

It was a very annoying game, but Aomine was very good at it. The only one who was able to scare Aomine back, was Kuroko. Not that Aomine ever admits that.

A hiss comes from under the couch and Atsushi slowly starts to understand what happened. He wouldn't be surprised if Aomine was playing his game of tag this early in the morning.

Before Atsushi can make another move, a grey cat emerges from under the other side of the couch and runs directly for cover to the dinner table. Aomine slowly and deliberately follows the cat in a grace that only felines possess. He licks his muzzle and purrs low while peering under the table.

The panther then starts reaching under the chairs, trying to get to the cat. But his attempts are to no avail, because the Himuro was sitting just far away enough to be out of immediate reach.

Atsushi hunches down to watch the next events, in doubt if he should speak up and stop the two. He isn't sure if this is a feline way of playing, or if there is more the matter.

Then he sees the panther turn away, as if it gives up, but his ears still stand totally focused at what happens behind him.

The cat is watching the panther intently and starts wagging his tail in anticipation. In a blink, the cat charges forward, aiming for the panther's long tail. The panther probably expected that, but still lets the cat getting close, only to turn around lightning fast and surprise Himuro again. In its surprise, the little feline puts up his front paws in semi attack, but a large black claw pushes him over.

The cat lets out a disdainful screech when it ends up on his back, with the large claw on his chest, but without its sharp nails out. The panther then sits down purring while keeping the cat easily in his place. Himuro starts attacking the claw viciously, gnawing on it, but not getting anywhere with it.

Atsushi now sees it as the game that it is, but still wants to help. "Mine-chin. Stop teasing by boyfriend." He says with a low voice.

The panther looks up as if he hadn't heard him coming in before. But Atsushi knows better, Aomine is a real force to reckon with when he is in his soul animal, nothing his strong instincts won't pick up.

Aomine takes his paw from Himuro though, letting the cat back on his paws. Himuro directly turns all his attention to the giant, the little game already forgotten, and runs to Atsushi to greet him properly. He meows when he reaches his legs and bumps his head against them.

Atsushi greets him too, caressing the fluffy fur before he scoops the grey monster in his arms and holds him against his chest. Himuro smoothly makes himself comfortable against his chest, purring loudly. With a warm smile, Atsushi stands up to greet Aomine too, but the panther had left the room silently.

The giant then shrugs and turns his attention back to the kitchen floor, where the glass shards are still laying on the ground. He is still on his bare feet, so he doesn't want to walk over there and cut them. He sighs and looks down at the cat in his arms. Himuro is now looking at him with his dark grey eyes.

"Did you break a glass again, Muro-chin?" He asks with a stern expression. The cat immediately lays his ears flat against his head, looking at him guilty with his pupils large and eyes sad.

"Don't give me that look." Atsushi sighs, while petting the cat over his head with one hand. "There is no problem, but I do want to clean it up, so I can get to start with the breakfast."

Himuro directly perks up at the word 'breakfast' and starts untangling himself from the giant's arms. Atsushi lets Himuro spring of him and watches him disappear into his room, only to emerge out of it within moments, now fully dressed in his pyjama pants and his shirt from yesterday.

Himuro does look a bit sheepishly but approaches Atsushi with a smile. "Hey. Sorry about that, I will clean it up. But in my defence, Aomine was the one that thought it would be funny to scare the hell out of me when I was just jumping upon the counter." He says bashfully.

"It's okay." Atsushi mumbles while getting a broom. He could have used a vacuum cleaner, but he didn't want to have that noise around his head while it was still throbbing painfully.

"Here let me help with that." Himuro takes the broom out of his hands and starts to clear a path in the kitchen.

"You didn't hurt yourself?" Atsushi asks when he bends down to pick up the larger chards of the glass carefully.

"Oh, no not at all. I think Aomine didn't either, he was quickly out of the kitchen anyway." The other answers reassuringly. Already almost done with sweeping all the shards on one large pile.

Atsushi then finally gets his glass water and some painkillers from a drawer. He swallows them away with big gulps of water, sighing contently when he drowned the whole contents of the glass.

Himuro looks at him attentively. "You're not having a hangover from your own birthday party, do you?" He says with a hint of joy in his voice.

Atsushi only grunts in affirmation. "You?" He asks back.

But Himuro shakes his head while sweeping the last shards away in a dustpan, emptying it in the trashcan afterwards. At the same moment Aomine emerges from the guest room, this time in his human form and wearing the same clothes as at the party.

"Yo, morning." He says to Atsushi, and the giant mumbles the same back. Himuro gives Aomine a sharp-eyed gaze, but Aomine either doesn't see it or doesn't care.

"Kise just woke up, so he will be here soon. What are we having for breakfast?" Aomine asks when he sees Atsushi getting ingredients out of the fridge.

"I only have eggs, bacon and more bread, I need to get more groceries." Atsushi says more to himself than to Aomine.

But the bluenet appears to be happy with the answer and settles himself at the kitchen table. "You don't need any help, right?" He asks surprisingly.

Atsushi looks at him, taken aback by the guys manners. Is that Kise's influences? "No thanks." He answers with a smile, getting two pans and starting to fry the bacon and the eggs.

When Himuro got the plates out on the table and the kitchen filled itself with the smell of bacon and eggs, Kise finally appeared in the living room. The blonde mumbles a good morning and sits down next to Aomine with a yawn.

Aomine gives him a soft smile and says 'morning' back. Kise wears one of the t-shirts he had bought in the shopping hall yesterday. Atsushi recognizes it the moment he sees him. But then his eyes fall on something else.

He tries to ignore it when he puts the food on the table and everyone starts eating, but he can't help to stare at the purple hickeys that are sprawled across Kise's neck, disappearing under the t-shirt.

Aomine sees him looking and gets a proud and mischievous smile on his face. He surely likes to mark his territory, and Atsushi is almost jealous that he didn't gave Himuro so much hickeys.

His cat doesn't like them that much, something about people seeing them. For Atsushi that's exactly the reason why he would plant them on that pretty marble white skin. But he respects Himuro's wishes. Mostly. A hickey on the others chest couldn't hurt, right?

If Himuro had noticed the hickeys, he didn't let it show. He was just enjoining his breakfast while asking Kise if he had slept well. But Atsushi's staring doesn't stay unnoticed for long, because Kise then finally catches Atsushi's gaze. He lays his food down and in his still sleepy voice he asks innocently. "What's up Murasakibaracchi?"

Atsushi looks sideways to Himuro, not sure if he should attend Kise of the purple bruises. But Himuro looks just as patiently at Atsushi, being no help at all.

"Ah, I was just thinking, you should've bought that scarf you were looking at in the stores yesterday." Atsushi then answers slowly.

Kise is looking at him confused but then Aomine starts to chuckle. Suddenly it clicks and the blonde's hand shoots up to his neck. He cast a scared gaze to Himuro, but grey eyes only look at him apologetically, confirming Kise's thoughts.

A pink flush covers the blonde's cheeks and he quickly looks at Aomine, whispering with a small voice. "You said you wouldn't make any that would last."

Aomine smiles at him happily, looking far too smug for his own good. But Kise starts to pout, starting to get stressed. "I have a shoot tomorrow!" He says with a croaking voice.

Aomine then sees the actual worry in his boyfriend's eyes and raised his hand to put a stray golden lock behind Kise's ear. "Relax babe, we both now that they will be gone by tomorrow with your healing factor." He says reassuringly.

But Kise still swats his hand away. "We don't know that for sure." He says, getting angry tears in his eyes.

"Ah, I might have something that would speed the healing process." Atsushi then says, disturbing the heated conversation.

Kise looks at him with hope and Himuro looks at him surprised, both asking almost at the same time. "You do?"

Atsushi stands from the table, he already ate most of the food, so the rest can wait, and starts to walk to the bathroom, where he had most of his medicine is stocked.

He returns with a green tube with salve. He gives it to Kise but looks at Himuro when he explains. "It's a salve against bruises. I haven't used it myself, I don't really need it. But I bought it a few weeks ago for, well..." Himuro's eyes brighten up when he understood, of course he would know it was for him even when Atsushi didn't say it.

"Oh, thank you, you are a life saver." Kise says while taking the tube and stands up. "I am going to apply it quickly. Ah, in the bathroom." The blonde gestures and quickly leaves the rest of them.

Aomine scowls at his food. "I forgot about that shoot." He says to no one in particular. Atsushi hums and gets to eat the leftovers. It takes Kise 10 minutes, in which Aomine keeps kitting more and more uneasy. The bluenet almost stands up to check on the other when the blonde finally reappears in the room. This time he wears his old shirt, so his new one wouldn't get any salve on it.

Kise gave Aomine a dark look when he saw him, but then he sits next to him again, resuming his breakfast as if nothing had happened. Aomine looks at him like he wanted to say something but then sighs and leaned with his elbow on the table and his head in his hand while looking away.

Meanwhile Himuro starts talking about some game he saw, to lighten the mood. It worked because Aomine quickly started to conversate with Himuro about the pros and cons of it.

It makes Atsushi more than happy to see his boyfriend talking so easily to his old school friends, it makes him proud. Under table he puts his hand on the other knee and squeezes it reassuringly. Just that little contact already makes him feel so warm inside. Himuro shares a glance with him and smiles sweet, making Atsushi's heart swell. He also takes Atsushi's hand on his knee in his and squeezes back. Releasing it then so he could get more of the food.

Kise ate the rest of the now lukewarm breakfast, also getting in a slightly better mood because of the food. Halfway Aomine tries to get Kise's attention back by telling how Himuro was so sacred of his panther that he threw a glass at his head this morning.

Which makes Himuro sputter. "That's not true, you were just jealous you couldn't walk on the counter that easily, so you planned on scaring me." Aomine then countered that by telling another story, keeping Kise and Atsushi in the dark about what really happened.

"I always have a hard time distinguishing the fighting and the playing style from felines, they always look so alike." Kise tells Atsushi with a sigh.

"Well if it was a real fight, then that little cat wouldn't be living right now." Aomine says highly. Which gets him an unimpressed glare from Himuro.

"Well, neither were you, Mine-chin." Atsushi says lazily, but the tread was clear. Aomine and he shared a glance. Both knowing they were just joking, but Atsushi didn't clear the joke up. It was a half-truth anyway.

Kise laughed after that and then starts complimenting Atsushi. "This is delicious. Please tell me your secret Murasakibaracchi, I need more of this amazing cooking in my life." Which in turn makes Aomine grumble.

"You told me you liked my cooking last time." He says offended. But Kise just gives him a wink, "I like your choice in take-out food." He says boldly.

Aomine looks back at him with his mouth agape, but then sees it as the pay back it is. Instead of getting angry about it he starts to laugh. His shoulders are still shaking slightly when Kise eats the last crumb of his plate.

After they all cleaned the table, Aomine helped Atsushi with getting the couch back on its place, while Himuro and Kise put the rest of the party litter in a trash bag in the kitchen. Thereon Kise and Aomine told them that they would head home, and Atsushi accompanied them outside, at the same time throwing the litter bags in the container outside.

"Thanks again for the party both of you, and Kise for the shopping and the... advise." Atsushi says to them. Aomine was already holding Kise's hand again. Somewhere out of Atsushi's sight the bluenet must have apologized or something, because Kise was already musing over him again.

"It was my pleasure." Kise smiled back, keeping his own shopping bags in his free hand. Then Himuro also appeared in the doorstep, saying goodbye to them, and after Kise told them both to 'Really keep in touch' the last party visitors went home.

Now Atsushi finally had the whole house for him and his Muro-chin alone, he couldn't wait to scoop his boyfriend off his feet and bring them to their couch.

Himuro laughed when Atsushi did exactly that, but his laugh was quickly captured with the giant's pressing lips. He sat down with Himuro on his lap and the other immediately took the advantage and wrapped himself all over him.

Atsushi draped his arms over the guy's lean back and Himuro was almost purring, maybe he even was, Atsushi wasn't sure sometimes. Atsushi was glad that his headache was finally numbed, because he was sure that his blood was pumping so fast that it would have been agony if the headache was still here.

Agony he still would've endured if it would give him Himuro in his arms.

The raven haired guy had his hands in his purple locks, tugging on it softly to angle his head just to the right side so he could kiss Atsushi senseless. And Atsushi let the other get in control. Loving how it felt to be overwhelmed by his boyfriend's attention. By his touch, by his kisses. But suddenly Himuro stopped, stilling in his hold.

Atsushi froze almost instinctively, and blinked up to the grey orbs that looked down on him.

"Muro-chin?" Is something wrong? He wanted to ask but the other already gave him a meaningful smile.

"You know, I just remembered something." Himuro says while cupping Atsushi's cheek in his hand.

"If you still want to, I like to visit that new pastry you were talking about earlier this week." He continues with a soft voice.

A strained sound, something what supposed to be a 'what?' but ends up being an embarrassing tone of surprise, comes out of Atsushi's mouth. Rush fills his entire body when he feels Himuro snicker against him.

"You wanna go now?" The giant says disbelieving, but with a hint of hope in his voice. His eyes flicker to the clock on the wall. His parents wouldn't be home for the next six hours, so they have all the time of the world.

Himuro nods and Atsushi almost jumps of the couch, the other still in his arms, but he is stopped. "Ah wait, Atsushi. Not now now." Himuro says quickly.

The giant set his boyfriend down sheepishly. Waiting for him to fully object, but he doesn't.

"I still have my simple clothes on." He says while pulling on his pyjama pants. "On a date with my boyfriend... I want to look like someone you want to walk next to."

Atsushi looks down fondly at Himuro, he doesn't know how much of this is a joke, but anyway he can't help but laugh.

It earns him an insecure look from Himuro, who starts biting his bottom lip. And no, that is just unacceptable. So Atsushi decides to give Himuro an ear full of his opinion.

"Muro-chin, I am always proud to walk next to you, even when you would walk in your pyjama's." He says honestly.

That surprises Himuro, Atsushi sees the guys grey orbs widen slightly, eyes full of bewilderment. It is not often that Himuro is this easily thrown off guard. So Atsushi takes advantage form it by leaning even closer, brushing away Himuro's fringe so he could give a little kiss on his forehead.

And then, with his eyes on Himuro's level, he whispers with his low voice loud enough for his boyfriend to hear.

"I'll love everything of you, my little cat."

When he pulls back he is rewarded with a beautiful blush, colouring Himuro's face.

"But if you want to, get your good clothes, I can't wait to taste all this special kind of cakes." He murmurs, waiting for Himuro to get to his room.

But Himuro keeps standing before him as in a trance. It isn't until the giant slowly puts his hand on the others cheek, that Himuro snaps out of it.

He blinks and with that blink a little tear escapes his eyes. But on Himuro's face is an expression of utter bliss.

"I really love all of you too big bear, that'll never change." He whispers.

And not even all the cakes and pastries in the world combined could make Atsushi any happier than those simple words from his Muro-chin could.

 

However, when the giant finally got the first taste of his long-awaited cake that afternoon, with Himuro seated across him, holding his hand under the table, he remembered again.

Cakes really made him very happy.

 

END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading this story. I love to read all your comments!  
> I hope you liked it <3\. 
> 
> The biggest thanks to my most amazing beta and boyfriend, without him this wouln't be finished by now.


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